Party-list lawmaker received death threat, say cops

The party-list congressman who was shot and wounded in Marikina City on Sunday had received a death threat in October, investigators said Monday.

But who would want Kakusa party-list Representative Ranulfo Canonigo dead remained a mystery as the Marikina City police scoured the crime scene for clues and waited to be allowed by doctors to question the lawmaker about the incident.

Police said two men on a blue motorcycle, followed by two others on another motorcycle who served as lookouts, cased the lawmaker’s home in Marikina City shortly before the incident.

Just after 5 p.m., Canonigo arrived at his home in Fairlane Subdivision, Concepcion Uno village, and as he sat in his Suzuki van waiting for his security aide and driver to open the gate, three shots rang out, police said quoting the aide.

Canonigo, 62, was hit at least thrice in different parts of the body.

Canonigo has the party-list seat of Kakusa (Kapatiran ng mga Nakulong na Walang Sala) which represents prisoners and detainees wrongly accused of crimes. A native of Zamboanga City, he had been renting the Marikina house for nine years.

The bodyguard, Filomeno Saranillo, and Canonigo had earlier been picked up from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by driver John Paras. They had come from Zamboanga del Norte, police investigator PO3 Efren Antor said.

Antor said Saranillo and Paras dropped to the ground on hearing the gunshots. Then sensing the gunmen had left, they checked on Canonigo inside the van.

“They thought the congressman was dead as he lay unconscious behind the driver’s seat. They rushed him to the hospital when they saw his hand twitch,” the investigator told the Inquirer in an interview.

After receiving first aid at St. Matthew’s Hospital in San Mateo, Rizal, Canonigo was transferred to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City. He is in stable condition after undergoing surgery for his wounds, police said.

Antor said that according to Saranillo, Canonigo had received a death threat through text that went: “Congressman mag-ingat ka. Tutuluyan ka namin (Be careful. We will finish you off).”

Saranillo said Canonigo read the message out loud to his staff sometime in October.

“According to them, (Canonigo) ignored it thinking it was not serious,” Antor said.

Senior Superintendent Gabriel Lopez, Marikina police chief, said witnesses described the two gunmen as being between 28 and 30 years old and wearing T-shirts and shorts. The driver was wearing a helmet while the rider had on a bonnet.

Superintendent Emmanuel Tabuena, Marikina deputy police chief, said they will come out with a computer-generated image of the suspects based on witness descriptions.