Family of slain South Cotabato pol seeks justice

Koronadal City — The family of a former mayoralty candidate who was gunned down in nearby Tampakan town last Wednesday morning, is crying out for justice for his death.

Gregorio Banal, 51, a prominent businessman and former mayoralty bet of Lakas-CMD (Christian Muslim Democrats) in Tampakan, was shot dead by two motorcycle-riding men with a caliber 9-mm. pistol while he was attending to his car on the roadside of Daisy street in the town proper at about 11:10 a.m.

Superintendent Romeo Rufino, South Cotabato police chief, said Banal sustained nine gunshot wounds.

Police were still clueless on the motive behind the killing, although they have cartographic sketches of the two killers based on the witnesses’ descriptions.

Rufino, however, said probers were looking into the extortion angle, noting that Banal got an extortion letter but ignored it during the campaign for the May 10 polls.

Tampakan is one of the South Cotabato towns where the New People’s Army had imposed "permit-to-campaign" fees on municipal candidates.

Rufino refused to identify the group which tried to extort from Banal, who reportedly owned a vast tract of land in Tampakan.

He said he has requested the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) here and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) based in General Santos City to help them investigate the killing.

"We want to know who killed our father. We want to know why they killed him. We want them behind bars so that justice could be served to us," Sising Banal, the victim’s youngest daughter, said in a radio interview.