Mayor’s man gunned down in Taguig

With still a month to go before local election campaign officially kicks off, a 57-year-old political leader of Taguig Mayor Freddie Tinga was killed in front of his house last Tuesday night, police said yesterday.

In a press statement, Tinga said Modesto Dacillo Sr. was talking to three men in front of their house in Block14 Lot 6 Samasipat, Pulong Kendi, Sta. Ana at around 6:30 p.m when he was shot several times in different parts of the body. The suspects immediately fled. Dacillo had been a known crusader against illegal drugs in the area.

Crime scene investigators recovered three slugs from a caliber .45 pistol and two slugs from a 9mm.

Investigators, led by chief of police Superintendent Ramon Reyes, said they are looking into several possibilities as to the motive for the killing.

Deeply-rooted political rivalry in the municipality, however, has been discounted.

Reyes said that dispute over land property could be behind the slaying. He said Dacillo’s group, an association of Taguig residents, recently won cases involving ownership of lands in their area.

Police are also considering the intensified campaign against illegal drugs in the municipality as possible cause of the killing.

"Many drug lords and small-time pushers have been affected by Dacillo’s anti-illegal drug campaign," Tinga said in the statement.

Probers said Dacillo had received death threats through black ribbons and phone calls.

Tinga has ordered police to look into the real motive of the killers.