The Pasay City police is closely coordinating with their counterparts in Batangas to obtain records of the previous attack on Talisay town Vice Mayor Florencio Manimtim Jr. that may lead to the identification of the suspects in Thursday’s shooting.
Matimtim was shot and critically wounded by a lone gunman while waiting for his van outside SM Mall of Asia’s Hypermart in Pasay City shortly before noon on Thursday.
Pasay City police investigation division head Chief Insp. Joey Goforth told the Inquirer they were looking into the possibility that the same men responsible for last year’s attempt on the life of Manimtim could be behind the attack and that politics could be the most probable motive.
Goforth said they would study the records of the Aug. 7, 2010, incident which are with the Batangas Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to enable them to zero in on the identities of the shooter and his cohort.
“As far as we know, a .45 caliber pistol was used in last year’s attack on the vice mayor. In Thursday’s incident, the same type of gun was used. We have to conduct a test on the spent shells and slugs recovered from the crime scenes in the two incidents to ascertain that we are looking at the same perpetrators,” he explained.
The Batangas police made no arrest for the first attack on Manimtim, he said.
Goforth pointed out that the shooter might not be a professional but is definitely a hired gun. “Buo ang loob niya (gunman). But noticeably he has a system of carrying out the hit. A double tap on the body and then an aim for the head. The third shot was intended for the victim’s head but his close-in security was able to react and ward off the shooter’s arm and mess up his aim,” Goforth told the Inquirer.
A double tap, he explained, meant two shots fired quickly in succession with hardly a space in between.
“His (Manimtim’s) close-in security was not able to react quickly enough from the double tap but only caught the third shot with the bullet grazing the victim’s shoulder. He chased the fleeing gunman but failed to catch up while four other security escorts brought the victim to the hospital,” he said, adding that the close-in security forgot his firearm inside Manimtim’s black Toyota Grandia van (SJV-370) when he tried to pursue the gunman.
Asked about the possible motive behind the attack, he said: “The likeliest motive is politics based on statements given by the victim’s relatives. But none of them would willingly attest to that in an affidavit. It is purely speculative at this point and we are still looking into other possible angles.”
He said they have yet to talk to Manimtim who is still under observation at the San Juan de Dios Hospital.
Goforth said they might be able to get the victim’s statement on Sunday or Monday.
After firing three shots, the gunman fled aboard a red Honda motorcycle driven by a cohort.
The attack was the second attempt on Manimtim’s life.
By Kristine Felisse Mangunay
POLICE looking into the attack on party-list Rep. Ranulfo Canonigo on Dec. 11 in Marikina City are eyeing political infighting as an angle, a police official said.
Senior Supt. Gabriel Lopez, Marikina chief of police, told the Inquirer investigators would ask Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Rosendo Labadlabad what he knew of squabbles within Canonigo’s party-list group, Kapatiran ng mga Nakakulong na Walang Sala (Kakusa).
Labadlabad, in a privilege speech on Wednesday, said that Canonigo, a second-term representative, prior to the attempt on his life, was being pressured to resign as Kakusa president.
Canonigo had just arrived at his house in Barangay Concepcion Uno after 5 p.m. and was sitting in his Suzuki van when a gunman appeared and fired three shots at him. Three other men served as lookouts, police said. They fled on two motorcycles.
According to Filomino Saranilla, Canonigo’s bodyguard, he heard three shots ring out just as he and the lawmaker’s driver and stepson, John Paras, opened the gate to park the vehicle.
Canonigo, 62, is in stable condition at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City, Lopez said.
“At this point, any kind of information is welcome,” Lopez told the Inquirer.
He said investigators were hoping Canonigo could identify the gunman. Police said earlier the lawmaker was the only one to get a clear look at the attacker’s face.
The gunman wore a bull cap and a white T-shirt, Lopez quoted a passerby.