Another Espinosa slain in Masbate

MASBATE CITY — For Mayor Moises Espinosa Jr., death came after a dance.

Espinosa was killed by two gunmen who shot him as he was escorting his dance partner to her seat at a fiesta in the coastal barangay of Bantigue at 12:30 a.m. yesterday.

Espinosa, 45, died three hours later while undergoing treatment at the Masbate Comprehensive Hospital.

The two other people killed in the attack were identified as Fidela Marcos, 57, and Henry Regalado, 35.

Bantigue is some three kilometers away from the city proper.

The gunmen fled after the shooting as pandemonium broke loose inside the barangay dance hall, where Espinosa was attending a dance as a guest of honor at the fiesta.

Police have not made any arrests as of last night.

Espinosa’s security men fired back at the gunmen, who were perched on an iron fence outside the dance hall, but they were unable to stop their escape.

Police investigators later found caliber. 45 and 9 mm shells at the crime scene.

But acting Bicol police director Senior Superintendent Jose Angeles told The STAR yesterday the killers were armed with Armalite rifles.

Angeles said the assassins had been stalking Espinosa since he arrived at Bantigue and entered the dance hall and waited for him. They saw their chance just as the mayor stopped dancing with an unidentified woman.

Witnesses said two gunmen fired their caliber .45 and 9 mm. pistols at Espinosa until he fell to the ground, causing people to stampede toward the exits.

Upon learning about Espinosa’s death, Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza ordered the relief of Masbate City police commander Superintendent Domingo Mendoza and Masbate provincial police director Superintendent Victor Leona.

"They will be replaced by police directors directly coming from four police headquarters in Legazpi (City)," Mendoza told reporters at Camp Crame in Quezon City yesterday.

Leona will be replaced by Superintendent Antonio Interia.

The victim, who was elected mayor when the capital town of Masbate was converted into a component city last year, won over his political rival, Florencio Fernandez, a brother of slain Gov. Jolly Fernandez, in the last local elections in May.

Governor Fernandez was shot dead by armed men near his residence here in 1989.

Mario Espinosa, a brother of the mayor, said in a radio interview that the killing was "purely political in nature," but he did not elaborate.

Masbate Rep. Emilio Espinosa, an uncle of the victim, said his family is offering P1 million to anyone who can identify the gunmen. The lawmaker made the offer through their Masbate-based radio station dyME.

Espinosa’s father, Rep. Moises Espinosa Sr. was also assassinated on March 17, 1989 at Masbate airport, while his uncle, Tito Espinosa, also a congressman, was ambushed and killed at Batasan Road and Commonwealth Avenue near the House of Representatives in Quezon City on Feb. 27, 1995. — With repors from Jaime Laude