Cops to probe same suspects in slay try on Batangas exec

MANILA, Philippines - The same persons investigated for the shooting of Talisay, Batangas Vice Mayor Florencio Manimtim Jr. last year may also be probed for the attack on him last Thursday, a Pasay City police official said yesterday.

“We are comparing the slugs and spent shells” in the two incidents, said Chief Inspector Joey Goforth, head of Pasay police’s investigation unit.

Goforth said the latest attack could be politically motivated, but declined to identify the suspects.

He said the police still do not have sufficient evidence to link the persons, and Manimtim has yet to give his statement.

Manimtim was outside a mall in Pasay City Thursday morning when an attacker shot him in the back several times. He was rushed to a hospital and remains under observation, Goforth said.

In August last year, an unidentified gunman shot Manimtim while he was attending the burial of a relative in Talisay Municipal Cemetery. Manimtim was the three-term mayor of the town before serving as its vice mayor.