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Monday, March 10, 2008
3 men shoot, kill politician
CEBU CITY -- A businessman and former candidate for town councilor was shot dead in front of his office as he was talking to his wife and son Sunday morning.
Witnesses said at least six gunshots were heard before Renerio Mongaya Arrogante III slumped to the ground. He was shot in both arms, on his chest and just above the neck.
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The gunman reportedly walked away casually, brandishing his .45 pistol, and left the Mainroad Square compound in Barangay Poblacion, Daanbantayan. A companion waited on a black Yamaha Crypton motorcycle.
The two sped off towards Barangay Pajo.
The victim's son, Renerio IV, said a man who was unfamiliar to them suddenly walked in front of them and fired.
Witnesses said that Arrogante's wife Juliet had tried to stop the man from further wounding her husband by trying to hit him with a plastic chair. The man did not harm her and merely pushed her aside to finish Arrogante off.
Arrogante was rushed to the Daanbantayan District Hospital just a few meters away, but he was declared dead on arrival.
Bystanders in the area believe the man was a professional killer because he was so calm when he walked to his getaway motorcycle.
A helmet also reportedly covered the motorcycle's license plate.
Defeated
Arrogante, more popularly known as "Gogong", ran for town councilor in the May 14 elections under the ticket of Augusto Corro, but lost. Corro ran against Mayor Sun Shimura, son of Vice Mayor Maria Luisa Loot.
He was also allegedly the one who filed a bigamy case against Loot.
Asked about his father's enemies, Renerio IV said his father had arguments regarding properties. He also cited the local political scene in Daan-bantayan. However, he did not elaborate, saying he was not familiar with these.
He also would not say what the possible motive could be, only that they were planning to seek assistance from the National Bureau of Investigation.
"But we don't mind if they coincide their investigation with the local police," Renerio IV told Sun.Star Cebu.
Senior Inspector Jovito Canlapan, Daanbantayan police chief, said that in the last quarter of last year, he served an arrest warrant on Arrogante.
Not a threat
He said he was not privy to case but that it had something to do with the cutting of mangroves in a property in Barangay Bateria.
The Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (Menro) reportedly served as complainant. There were also reports that Arrogante had arguments with someone in Bateria over a piece of property.
Sought for comment, the Loot family denied involvement in the case.
"Ug pulitika lang atong sturyaan, mas daghan pa kog kontra nga mas grabe pa, wala man gani'y nahitabo (I have more rabid political enemies, but nothing like this has happened here)," Malou, the vice mayor, said in a separate interview.
Malou, her husband Senior Superintendent Vicente Loot, and son Shimura, the mayor, explained to Sun.Star Cebu that they would not go to such trouble over Arrogante because he did not even win the elections.
They pointed out that the position he ran for was not the same position they sought.
No compromise
Vicente, for his part, said his two sons were in the area when the shooting happened. The two teenagers, aged 18 and 19, had asked permission from Vicente to go to an Internet cafe inside the complex.
When they heard about the shooting, Vicente said he and Malou got so worried that they sent members of their household to find out how their boys were.
"If I were responsible for that, I would not compromise the life of my two teenagers. Nagtuo gani ko siya ang namusil (I thought Arrogante was the one who did the shooting)," Vicente told Sun.Star Cebu.
Vicente said workers at the Internet cafe had locked the doors and tried to secure the two boys when they heard the gunshots.
Vicente alleged that Arrogante had several other arguments in the town and that investigators had to look into these.
Shimura, for his part, said that if they had any intention to harm Arrogante, they would have done so the night before the elections and not yesterday morning.
Angles
"Wala mi nabuhi sa pulitika. Tanang taw nakahibaw nga duna mi negosyo. Ug napul-an na ang tawo namo, mohunong na pud mi sa pulitika (We don't depend on politics for a living. Everyone knows we run a business too. If the people don't want us anymore, we'd quit politics)," Malou said.
Canlapan said they have yet to talk to the family to find out all the possible angles to the killing. He is also planning to ask an artist to talk to the witnesses so that a sketch of the gunman could be made.
He said that Arrogante has not lodged a complaint before his office regarding any death threats.
Because the family wants the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to handle the probe, Canlapan has sealed off the area and tasked barangay tanods to secure the crime scene so the NBI can survey it. Five empty shells were scattered in there area.
For now, the family wants to take care of Arrogante's funeral.
His body was taken to the Cebu Rolling Hills Memorial Homes in Mandaue City Sunday. (Mia E. Abellana of Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (March 10, 2008 issue)
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