Ex-Masbate lawmaker shot dead in Caloocan

A former congressman of Masbate was shot dead by three still unidentified armed men as the former was playing mahjong with friends last Sunday night in Barangay 164, Caloocan City.

Superintendent Napoleon Lim Cuaton, Station Investigation and Detection Management Bureau (SIDMB) chief, identified the lone fatality as Fausto Seachon, a native of Masbate, and a resident of Road 11, GSIS Hills Subdivision, Talipapa street, Barangay 164, Caloocan City.

Initial reports said Seachon was hit by two bullets in the chest and was grazed by another bullet in the left cheek.

Also wounded in the attack were Alex Legaspi, 56, driver, resident of Road 10 and Emma Alonzo, 55, of Rivera street, both of Talipapa, Caloocan City. Legaspi was wounded in the chest while Alonzo was hit on the left and right side of the face and in the right hand.

SPO1 Victor Lalata, officer on case, said Seachon was taken to the Casaul General Hospital on Tandang Sora Avenue in Quezon City, where he died while being operated on.

Legaspi and Alonzo were taken to the FEU Hospital in Fairview, Quezon City, where they are reportedly still in serious condition.

Cuaton said that as of 9 a.m. yesterday, the victim’s family refused to have Seachon’s body autopsied, but later relented.

He said they have taken a male suspect in custody for questioning after he was identified by witnesses to be in the immediate area during the incident. The officer declined to name the suspect so as not to compromise follow-up operations.

In his report to Cuaton, Senior Inspector Florante Santos, homicide section chief, said the incident occurred at around 11 p.m. on Road 11, GSIS Hills, Talipapa, a depressed area, as the victims were playing mahjong outside a house.

Witness Roger Moreno, 27, said two of the suspects, who arrived in tandem on a motorcycle, came up with handguns drawn and fired several shots at the victims before fleeing the crime scene.

One of the three allegedly acted as a lookout.

Police initially pointed to politics as the motive for the killing, but refused to elaborate.

Seachon had been elected to a three-year term as congressman of Masbate before an unsuccessful run for the gubernatorial post last year.

Meanwhile, Sen. Manny Villar, president of the Nacionalista Party, condemned the killing of the former congressman.

"As former congressman of Masbate’s third district, Fausto served during my term as Speaker of the House of Representatives. I am shocked and saddened by his death," he said.

The senator asked the Philippine National Police to hasten the investigation and arrest the perpetrators of the crime.

"I hope the PNP will work doubly hard for the speedy resolution of this case. Whatever the motive was for the killing, the criminals should be brought to justice as soon as possible," he said. – With Pete Laude