No leads yet in DILG exec shooting

CALAMBA CITY, Laguna, Philippines – Authorities are facing a blank wall in the shooting of the director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) on Monday morning.

Superintendent Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesperson for the Calabarzon police, said the man who shot Renato Brion, 60, was wearing a helmet, which made it difficult for the investigators to identify the assailant.

Gaoiran said investigators are verifying information that the gunman was with one or two persons who served as lookouts and backup.

She said the task group created to handle the case is reviewing footage taken by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed near the crime scene.

Five persons – including two security guards, a vendor, Brion’s driver and his wife – have been invited to the police to shed light on the incident.

Sources said the assailants could be members of a Cavite-based group engaged in contract killing.

The same sources said days before the attempt on Brion’s life, a Cavite politician was looking for contract killers to assassinate a local government official.

Sources said they are checking the text message supplied by an unidentified sender. 

Brion is now in stable condition at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa. He suffered gunshot wounds in the head, neck and hip.

The task group is eyeing work and personal matters as possible motives for the attack.

Brion had just stepped out of his Toyota Innova (SLC-963) and was about to enter the Andeson building in Barangay Pariab, where he was holding office, when he was shot at around 7 a.m.

Brion’s wife, who was with him in the car, and driver were not harmed. – With Arnell Ozaeta