Mayor to sue gunman who hurt town employee

Tudela Mayor Rogelio Bacquerfo Sr. is set to file within the week a case of frustrated murder against the man who shot and wounded his municipal employee who was with him outside the Puertobello National High School on Monday.

The mayor insisted that the incident was politically motivated and that he was actually the target of the gunman who he had identified already as someone surnamed Montero.

Bacquerfo had just finished his engagement as guest speaker of school’s commencement excersises that day and he was already inside his vehicle when the gunman opened fire. “Mayna lang gani nga nahulog siya (the gunman) sa canal. Mao tingali to nga wa ko naigo,” he told The Freeman.

It was Celso Cuizon, the mayor’s job-order employee at the municipal hall, who was hit instead but the bullet only grazed his right side of the face.

In a separate interview, Insp. Almirante Bacayo, the new Tudela Police Station chief, said the police are now collating the affidavits of at least four witnesses who identifed the gunman as the same Montero that the mayor had suspected.

Bacayo however refused to give further details of the investigation, saying they are still determining the motive of the shooting and that a manhunt is still being conducted against the suspect who has been believed to be still in hiding in the island since. 

Provincial Police director Carmelo Valmoria, for his part, earlier said that it was Cuizon, not the mayor, was the target of the shooting, judging the manner of execution.

If it was the mayor who was the target of the gunman, then it could have been a better shot considering that the gunman was already posted in the area and that the place was well lighted, said Valmoria. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon and Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE