THE town mayor who survived an ambush last Sunday suggested that investigators compare the 19 empty shells found in Daanbantayan’s port with those recovered from the scene where businessman Wellington Lim was attacked in Cebu City last March.
Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot also said he has given investigators his information and observations on the attack, which injured two of his drivers, a nanny, and a porter.
“I gave them the leads. I trust their capability,” he said. He also confirmed being told that the National Bureau of Investigation will conduct a parallel inquiry.
Loot dismissed allegations that he staged the attack on him and his family as a way to gain the public’s sympathy. He recalled that the attack was quick and indicated that the five gunmen were professionals.
The gunfire lasted less than 60 seconds. “The rule,” the retired police chief superintendent said, “is to keep the attack at 60 seconds while everyone is in shock and then withdraw. Hadlok man pod sila basig naa’y security forces sa palibot (They probably thought there were security forces around).”
Friends in the force
A team of police officers was sent by the Police Regional Office 7 to guard Loot’s residence in Barangay Poblacion.
Loot said his family’s security is his primary concern.
“I feel so vulnerable because of my family,” he said. But when he voted yesterday, he walked some 150 meters from his home to the polling place without any security.
Loot said his underclass officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines have promised to give him “covert security.” He has also heard from informants that there was a “special op” planned last month, which meant that someone would be killed. But his name was not on the list.
“It may be politics. Everything is always ‘special ops’ regardless of who is the author. Dili ingon ana ka brazen kon dili mga professional (They wouldn’t have been that brazen if they were not professionals),” he said.
Last month, heavily armed men attacked Wellington Lim, a brother of Cebuano-Chinese businessman Peter Lim, outside a bar in Cebu City. Wellington was not hit inside his bulletproof SUV, but the bar’s guard was killed.
Like Loot, Peter Lim has been named by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 as someone with connections to the illegal drug trade. Both men have denied the allegations.
Maybe politics?
Loot’s wife, former mayor Maria Luisa Loot, said she believes President Duterte had nothing to do with the incident.
She believes, instead, that their political enemies were behind the attack.
Maria Luisa said she called House Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia after the incident.
The former mayor also criticized Senior Insp. Irish Delim, the town’s police chief, for the absence of police officers from the port.
She said she failed to see any police officer securing Barangay Logon, Malapascua Island, which celebrated its fiesta last Saturday. She was with her family in Logon and they had just arrived back on the mainland when the attack occurred.
“I was told the policemen were pulled out by the police chief,” she said in Cebuano.
She also asked her husband to install a closed-circuit television camera in the port.
Delim said there were seven police officers deployed in Malapascua Island.
A day after the ambush, the district had a relatively quiet election. Supt. Virgilio Bayon-on, Cebu Provincial Police Office spokesperson, said no election-related incident happened in Daanbantayan and other areas in fourth legislative district: Bogo City, Bantayan, Madridejos, Medellin, San Remigio, Santa Fe, Tabogon, and Tabuelan.
For his part, Police Regional Office 7 Director Robert Quenery said that the authorities are still investigating the motive behind the ambush. He also confirmed that Loot requested for security escorts.
The Commission on Elections 7 said that any politician or elected official can ask for assistance from the police if they are in imminent danger.
Atty. Veronico Petalcorin, Comelec 7, said this after a security detail was assigned to Mayor Loot after last Sunday’s attack. (with JOB)