Police have description of Batangas vice mayor’s killer

MANILA, Philippines—The Southern Police District task force investigating the killing of a Batangas municipal official at a Pasay City mall on December 15 has obtained leads to the killer’s identity.

Talisay town vice mayor Florencio Manimtim Jr.’s killer had, seconds before the shooting, brandished his gun at a bystander whom he warned against interfering with the hit.

SPD deputy director for operations Senior Superintendent Federico Castro Jr., head of the task force, said that a witness saw the gunman up close and had given enough descriptions to enable police to draw a picture of the man’s face.

Seconds before Manimtim was gunned down, the killer brandished  his gun at a bystander and warned him against doing anything, Castro said.

“The witness was standing several meters away from Manimtim and his close-in security when the suspect passed by him and brandished the pistol at him,” Castro said.

He said the gunman told the bystander, “Do not meddle,” before walking toward Manimtim and his companion and repeatedly shooting at the vice mayor, who was waiting for his van in front of the SM Mall of Asia’s Hypermart on  Sunset Avenue and Harbour Drive. The assailant fled on a red motorcycle driven by a cohort.

Manimtim died three days after the attack at the San Juan de Dios Hospital.

“We obtained some CCTV [closed circuit television] footage showing the gunman before, during and after the hit and we are in the process of clearing up the images,” Castro told the Inquirer, adding that a clear picture of the suspect would accurately identify him.

He said investigators were also still trying to determine if Manimtin’s assailants were the same men who attacked Manimtim last year at his father’s funeral.

On Aug. 7, 2010, the vice mayor was attending his father’s burial at the Talisay municipal cemetery in Barangay Poblacion when he was shot and wounded in the head by one of two assailants. His bodyguard, Guillermo Macaraig, 57, was killed.

Castro pointed out, however, that it was likely the mastermind of the killing could have hired other people for the hit since they failed last year.

“The motive for the killing is definitely similar to last year’s attempt on the victim’s life,” he said, alluding to politics as the primary motive behind the two attacks on Manimtim.