Retired colonel gunned down

MEXICO, Pampanga – A retired Army colonel, a known critic of this town’s mayor, was gunned down yesterday morning, police said.

Senior Superintendent Keith Singian, provincial police director, said retired Col. Wilfredo Munar was shot several times while he was walking toward his ancestral home.

Investigators found 12 empty shells and two slugs from a caliber .45 pistol at the crime scene.

Mayor Teddy Tumang admitted to The STAR that Munar had been one of his critics and even filed two cases against him with the Office of the Ombudsman.

The cases involved alleged anomalies in lahar sand quarrying funds and in the construction of the new P25-million municipal building.

Tumang denied having a hand in the killing, saying, "I expected some quarters to blame me for the incident."

"I am not afraid of what people will now say," he said, adding that he was not aware if Munar had any political plans.

Tumang recalled that last Monday, Munar had been criticizing him in his meetings with various groups.

At the time Munar was killed, the mayor said he was overseeing the construction of the almost finished new municipal building while distributing PhilHealth cards to some of his constituents.

Tumang said Munar had been detained once in the local jail for "minor offenses," including alleged harassment of some local folk.

Singian said police investigators were still clueless on the killing in the absence of any witnesses. "No one at the crime scene wants to talk," he said.

He said Barangay San Antonio where Munar was killed used to be heavily influenced by the New People’s Army until the military flushed out the rebels.

Tumang denied reports that he has a private army, saying he has three police escorts who had obtained exemption from the election gun ban.

Tumang is seeking reelection and is expected to be challenged by former mayor Ernesto Punsalan.

"I don’t even know if Munar was close to Punsalan," he said. – Ding Cervantes, Ric Sapnu