Zambo Sibugay vice mayor shot dead, wife wounded

A vice mayor in Zamboanga Sibugay was killed while his wife was injured when a lone assailant shot them on Tuesday.

Chief Supt. Elpidio de Asis, Western Mindanao police chief, in a text message on Wednesday, identified the victims as Siay Vice Mayor Carlito Bayawa and his wife Susan, a treasurer of Siay.

De Asis said the Bayawas were approaching an automated teller machine at the branch of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in Ipil town, also in Zamboanga Sibugay, when attacked late afternoon on Tuesday.

The couple was to withdraw some cash, he said.

Police said Vice Mayor Bayawa, 52, had no bodyguard at that time.

Injuries

De Asis did not specify how many injuries the vice mayor had suffered, which led to his death, but added the wife suffered a bullet wound on her left arm.

Ipil Mayor Eldwin Alibutdan said Bayawa died from a single bullet wound in the chest.

The assailant fled on a motorcycle driven by another man.

De Asis said based on the investigation of the local police, “the target was the wife, Susan, who was able to run during the shooting.” The suspects, he said, might have wanted to rob her.

But he said the police were continuing with the investigation and nothing was conclusive yet.

Alarming

Alibutdan said the shooting incident had alarmed officials of Ipil because it involved ranking officials.

Susan, he said, is not just a housewife but also the town treasurer of Siay.

“The whole officialdom of Ipil condemns the killing of Siay Vice Mayor Bayawa right here in our town,” Ipil Councilor Albert Alcoriza said.

Alcoriza said an emergency meeting among Ipil town officials was held on Tuesday evening, during which, concerns were raised about the state of peace and order in Ipil.

He said they wanted the police to determine if the assailant and his companion were guns for hire or just plain robbers.

“We see many motives behind the killing, Bayawa’s family owns many agri-businesses in Siay, his wife Susan is also the municipal treasurer of their town, but what alarms us is the possibility that the killers may have tailed them down from Zamboanga City to Ipil,” Alibutdan said.