Ex-Biliran gov shot dead

TACLOBAN CITY — Former Biliran governor Danilo Parilla was shot dead in Cebu City yesterday morning allegedly by a former bodyguard of his local political rival.

Parilla, 52, was shot twice with a caliber .45 pistol by Eugene Corpin, a former bodyguard of incumbent Biliran Gov. Roger Espina. Police arrested Corpin after the incident.

Police said Parilla and his wife, Susan, sailed from Naval, Biliran to Cebu City, where they own a house, on board a SuperCat ferry.

Corpin also boarded the ferry and was apparently following the Parilla couple. Investigators said the ferry arrived at the Cebu City port at about 5 a.m. and when Parilla alighted from the vessel, Corpin immediately shot him.

Senior Superintendent Conrado Calvario, Biliran police director, said Parilla was shot in the head and chest and died at the Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City.

Naval Mayor Gerardo Espina Sr., father of Gov. Espina, denied that the killing of Parilla was politically motivated and insisted that the incident was an offshoot of an old grudge.

He said Corpin and Parilla, who were both allegedly drunk, had a quarrel last Friday night at a barbeque stand in Naval.

"Only dirty-minded people will drag my name and my family to the death of former governor Parilla which was not politically motivated but a result of a personal grudge," said Mayor Espina.

Espina, who served as Biliran congressman for three terms before running against Parilla in the 2004 mayoral elections in Naval, confirmed that Corpin was a former bodyguard of his governor-son.

He said Corpin was terminated from the incumbent governor’s staff two years ago.

"He was removed in the security force of Gov. Espina kasi nga we observed that he is barumbado kapag nakaka-inom (troublesome when he is drunk). The suspect admitted he committed the crime because of a personal grudge, that is all. Bakit pa idadawit ang pangalan namin dito? (Why should our name be linked to this?) And it is very unfair to say that Parilla’s death was politically motivated," he said.

Mayor Espina defeated Parilla in the 2004 local polls, but the former governor filed a protest with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

He said Parilla’s poll protest is still pending with the Comelec, but the case he filed in the Naval Regional Trial Court had been dismissed.

Parilla, a lawyer, served as Biliran governor from 1995 to 1998 after he finished his term as vice governor from 1992 to 1995. — With Roberto Dejon