Puno orders probe on Samar mayor's slay

MANILA, Philippines – Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno has ordered Eastern Visayas regional police director Chief Superintendent Mario Sandiego to investigate the murder of Matuguinao, Samar Mayor Carlos de la Cruz.

Two unidentified men gunned down De la Cruz late Thursday. He died from a gunshot wound in the chest while being treated in hospital in Catbalogan City.

The mayor’s nephew, Joel Adal, an auditor of the regional Commission on Audit was wounded in the attack.

According to reports, De la Cruz was in front of his residence in Catbalogan when two men riding tandem on a motorcycle approached and shot him at close range.

One of the gunmen then approached and lobbed a grenade at the mayor’s house, wounding his nephew, reports said.

Although the Catbalogan City police are not ruling out the possibility that the attack on De la Cruz was politically motivated, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) wants the police to determine the real motive.

“The secretary (Puno) has ordered an investigation into the incident. We cannot at the moment conclude that it (shooting) was politically motivated until an investigation is conducted,” said Brian Yamsuan, DILG assistant secretary for Public Affairs.

Yamsuan said Puno has also ordered the Philippine National Police’s Task Force Usig to investigate the incident.

Task Force Usig is the unit of the national police investigating incidents of extrajudicial killings of journalists as well as politically related killings.