Even before authorities could arrest any suspect in the gruesome murder of former Cebu City assistant prosecutor Mary Ann Castro last January 17, another high-profile case has rocked Cebu that authorities should also need to immediately solve.
Tuesday night’s ambush of San Fernando town Mayor Lakambini Reluya, her husband and four others added to the long list of recent crime incidents gripping Cebu that police authorities have yet to solve.
Mayor Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya and her companions were on board a van and were on their way to Cebu City when unidentified assailants opened fire at them at around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Barangay Linao, Talisay City.
Killed on the spot were Reluya’s husband, Ricardo “Nonoy” Reluya Jr., the town’s tourism officer Ricky Monterona and driver Allan Bayot. The mayor was lucky to survive the ambush with only gunshot wounds to the arms.
Police investigators are now zeroing in on politics as the possible motive behind the incident, an angle that Mayor Reluya herself suspects. Mayor Reluya is running for reelection together with her husband, the current president of the town’s Association of Barangay Councils, as her runningmate in the midterm polls in May.
Yes politics should top the list of angles the authorities should look into. The fact that San Fernando, just like in the previous elections, has been part of the election watchlist areas (EWAS) of the Commission on Elections in Cebu should be a reason for the police to be seriously concerned about the intense political rivalry in the town.
However, there are angles that should also merit the investigators’ attention. Police should not also discount the possibility that the mayor or any of the victims had personal grudge with someone that led to the incident. Then, there’s the angle on business or work that probers should also prioritize as they go through every piece of the evidence.
Authorities should know that any high-profile crime cannot be solved by just looking at a single angle alone. In the Reluya ambush, they really need to explore all possibilities in the effort to immediately solve the case.