Isabela town councilor shot dead

ILAGAN, Isabela – A councilor of an interior southern town here was shot dead pre-dawn yesterday, with authorities still investigating the identities of the suspects and their motives behind the killing, which was the second of such incident involving a town councilor here in seven months. 

Reports reaching the provincial police office here said that Rodrigo “Ding” Manuel, 54, councilor of remote Jones town here, was walking home from a meeting around 2:40 a.m. yesterday when the armed suspects waylaid him, hitting him on the body and head with five bullets of .45 caliber pistol.

In his report to Senior Superintendent Dominador Aquino, provincial police director, Jones town police Chief Inspector Jesus Nape said that the incident took place just a stone’s throw from their police station.  

He said his men on duty that time heard several shots and footsteps from the crime scene. Responding policemen, however, failed to apprehend any of the armed suspects who were believed to be a group of five.  

Nape said Manuel had tried to evade his attackers but upon reaching his residence, his assailants still followed him and continued to pepper him with bullets until he died. 

The victim, he said, had earlier received threats as indicated in his cellphone, but did not report this matter to the police until his death. 

Reports had it that the killing could have been caused by political or personal motives and that it may have been the handiwork of armed groups. 

Meanwhile, Col. Victor Felix, chief of the Army’s 502nd Infantry Brigade based in the area, doubted the New People’s Army’s having a hand in the killing since “they are in disarray and had no chance to make such (crime).”

Manuel’s killing came exactly seven months after Alicia town Councilor Primo Dasig was shot dead in front of the town’s public market, an incident speculated by many as politically motivated.      – Charlie Lagasca