Law office of ex-Mandaue poll candidate sprayed with bullets

CEBU — Two unidentified armed men peppered with bullets the law office of a former opposition vice mayoralty candidate in Mandaue City early Wednesday morning.

The office of lawyer Victor Biaño in Barangay Ibabao was hit by at least 10 bullets a few moments after a boy, who was studying inside the office, had left.

Biaño said the gunmen must have thought that somebody was still inside the law office because his errand boy, Arjay Pedrano, forgot to switch off the lights after he went home.

Biaño said witnesses, who were in a karaoke bar across the street, said they saw two armed men riding on a motorcycle stop momentarily in front of his law office.

The backrider took out a gun and fired several times. One of the slugs hit and damaged a copying machine, while another struck the door leading to the kitchen.

Biaño estimated the damage to property at more than P100,000.

Biaño believes that the incident was politically related, saying its perpetrators could be his political rivals or former allies with whom he had parted ways.

There are reports that the Bando Mandaue party under which Biaño ran and lost in the May elections, broke up after its mayoral candidate, Ariston Cortes, was accused of pocketing campaign funds he received from former sixth district congressman Efren Herrera. — Freeman News Service