Officials are looking at politics and a grudge in the killing of Mayor Mariano Blanco III of Ronda town in Cebu, a report on News To Go said Thursday.
A task group has been formed by Cebu Police to look into the killing that took place at Blanco’s office around 1 am on Wednesday.
OIC Mayor Rocky Gabatan said the mayor’s movements had been under surveillance for months, while Cebu Gov. Junjun Davide said Blanco had received a death threat after the killing of Ronda Vice Mayor Johna John Ungab in February.
Ungab was the lawyer of self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa.
Blanco was among the local officials stripped of power over the local police after President Rodrigo Duterte linked them to the narcotics trade.
He was the 10th mayor killed under the Duterte administration.
In November last year, Blanco told reporters his life was in danger. He had just been stripped of his power over the local police back then after Duterte publicly accused him of being a narco-politician.
At 1:30 am on Wednesday his fears came true after he was shot dead by unidentified gunmen inside his office.
“Witnesses said four armed men alighted from a white van and entered the municipal hall. The mayor was there as he was sleeping in his office,” Sr. Insp. Jayr Palcon told AFP.
Since 2017, Blanco had been regularly changing his routine”•including sleeping in his office”•in a bid to deter would-be assassins.
Blanco’s death came seven months after his nephew, Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah Ungab, was also gunned down in Cebu City in February. A lawyer, Ungab served as a legal counsel to self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa Jr. He was shot twice in the head a few meters away from the Cebu City Palace of Justice where he accompanied Espinosa.
In July, at least five politicians”•including another mayor in Duterte’s narco-list”•were killed in a span of six days.
On July 2, Mayor Antonio Halili of Tanauan City, Batangas, was shot dead while attending a flag ceremony at the city hall. A day after, Mayor Ferdinand Bote of General Tinio, Nueva Ecija, was repeatedly shot by a motorcycle-riding suspect while he was on board his Toyota Fortuner in Cabanatuan City.
On July 7, Trece Martires City Vice Mayor Alexander Lubigan and his driver Romulo Guillemer were killed by gunmen while they were traversing the Indang Road. On the same day, Zamboanga City councilor Michael Magallanes and Kapatagan, Lanao del Sur municipal councilor Nassif Bansil were also shot dead in separate incidents.
Halili was in Duterte’s narco-list while Bote was a member of the President’s political party, the ruling PDP-Laban.