LP stalwart in Lanao del Norte shot dead

ILIGAN CITY – Unidentified gunmen on Thursday evening shot dead a stalwart of President Benigno Aquino III’s Liberal Party in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte on Thursday evening.

But Senior Superintendent Madid Paitao, Lanao del Norte police chief, said Friday they were still investigating the incident, which took place a few weeks before the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2013 mid-term elections.

He said the victim, Jake Ommamus, chairman of Barangay (village) Manga in Kolambugan, was driving a motorcycle for another village when shot dead by a lone gunman along the highway in Barangay Titunod.

He said Ommamus – who sustained four wounds in his back – was able to call his family through his mobile phone and told them he had been shot in Titunod.

Responding family members rushed him to a hospital, where he had expired.

Paitao said one angle the police were looking at was politics.

He said they were also looking at reports the victim was involved in a land row.