Cagayan judge shot dead

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines  – A Cagayan regional trial court (RTC) judge was gunned down as he was about to enter his room in a hotel in Aparri town early Tuesday night.

Police said Judge Andres Cipriano, 59, of the Aparri RTC Branch 9, had just arrived at the Saint Patrick Hotel in Barangay Macanaya when one of two motorcycle-riding men fired at him.

Senior Superintendent Albertlito Garcia, intelligence chief of the regional police based at Camp Adduru in Tuguegarao City, said Cipriano sustained two gunshot wounds from a 9-mm pistol.

Investigation showed that the two men had parked their red XRM motorcycle in front of the hotel while waiting for Cipriano.

“The victim immediately proceeded to his rented room and as he was about to enter it, one of the suspects followed him and shot him twice, hitting him in the nape that caused his death,” Garcia said.

The attackers then sped south toward Barangay Tallungan in Aparri town, police said.

As of press time, police were still clueless on the killing.

“We are still investigating all possible motives or angles, especially whether it was work-related or personal,” Garcia said, adding that they were not discounting politics.

Garcia said they still had to talk to Cipriano’s family on whether the judge had received any death threats.

“We are also looking into all the cases handled or currently lodged at the judge’s sala for these might have something to do with his killing,” he added.

Cipriano was reportedly set to hand down his decision this week on a controversial case involving local politicians.

The judge’s slay came as authorities have yet to arrest the killers of Dr. Rosefina Abad-Serrano, associate dean of the Cagayan State University’s College of Arts and Sciences, in Aparri’s neighboring town of Buguey barely a month before the May 10 elections.

Serrano, 43, daughter of Mayor Rosendo Abad of Gonzaga town, was shot while aboard a passenger van on her way to her hometown.