Ex-Ecija vice mayor shot dead

CABIAO, Nueva Ecija – Motorcycle-riding men gunned down a former vice mayor of this town yesterday afternoon, police said.

Senior Superintendent Ricardo Marquez, acting provincial police director, said former vice mayor Boy Good Clemente, 51, was standing in front of a vulcanizing shop in Barangay San Fernando Sur where he parked his Starex van when two motorcycle-riding men shot him with a caliber .45 pistol in the back at around 1:30 p.m.

Clemente died from four gunshot wounds.

Marquez said details about the killing remain sketchy and that they have yet to determine the possible motive.

Clemente’s killing sent shock waves to this town where he had no known enemies.

Cabiao, hometown of the late National Bureau of Investigation director Reynaldo Wycoco and former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez, has had no history of killings of local officials. 

Mayor Abundia Garcia, a close ally of Gov. Aurelio Umali under whose Lakas-CMD party Clemente ran for reelection in 2004, told The STAR that the killing is a sad episode in the town.

“Mabait ’yung tao na ’yan (That guy is good),” she said.

Clemente was elected vice mayor in 2001 when Gloria Crespo-Congco was still mayor. He ran for reelection under Garcia’s ticket but lost to the incumbent, Mar Simbillo. 

Garcia, however, said that prior to the incident, Clemente confided to her that he was having problems with the cockpit arena he was operating.

“He said he got involved in a feud involving the cockpit so I warned him to be extra careful,” she recalled.

Garcia has created a task force to dig deeper into the killing and has offered a reward that could lead to the arrest of Clemente’s assassins.