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Sunday, November 12, 2006
Police eye politics behind mayor's killing
By Edwin G. Espejo
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (2nd Update) -- Authorities investigating the killing of Maitum Mayor George Yabes Jr. by motorcycle riding gunmen Saturday noon suggest the attack was politically motivated.
Yabes was shot at around 12:45 p.m. Saturday in front of South Cotabato 2 Electric Cooperative (Socoteco 2). The gunmen immediately fled.
His lone bodyguard was able to return fire but the gunmen managed to escape unharmed.
Yabes was rushed to a hospital in nearby Kiamba town but was pronounced dead on arrival. It was the second attempt on his life.
Major General Ernesto Boac, 10th Infantry Division commander said initial military reports suggested the attack could be politically motivated.
Boac said troops were helping the local police force track down the assailants. "There is an ongoing manhunt. Police and military forces are tracking down the killers," he said.
In May this year, police authorities arrested a certain Belino Sumadang who claimed he was hired to kill Yabes by a certain Ambong for P200,000.
Sumadang, who was arrested while trying to enter the town's gym where the late mayor was heading the town's fiesta celebration, pointed to Maitum Vice Mayor Felix Reganit as the alleged mastermind behind the assassination plot.
Reganit vehemently denied the allegation.
Yabes, 64, was on his third and final term. He was opposed to illegal logging activities in the Maitum, a stand that may have caused his life according to sources close to the slain mayor.
Maitum information officer Beth Palma Gil said the whole town was in shock. "We are in grief," she said.
Central Mindanao Police Regional Director German Doria said he had already ordered Sarangani Provincial Director Efren Valeriano to conduct a thorough investigation.
He said Police Chief Oscar Calderon also gave instructions to get into the bottom of the case and coordinate with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for the immediate arrest of the suspects.
"We still do not have any suspects but we are looking into the reported assassination plot against the mayor in May this year," Doria said in an interview.
The police director said Yabes was hit on the head and the neck. "The wounds were fatal," Doria said.
According to Palma Gil, Yabes was driving his balikbayan relatives from Hawaii when the shooting incident happened.
Yabes left behind his wife Rosita and two children. (Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (November 12, 2006 issue)
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