PNP: Slain Los Baños mayor suffered 3 gunshot wounds from 5.56-cal firearm

Residents of Los Baños, Laguna, pay their last respects to slain Mayor Caesar Perez during a public wake at the town hall in this photo taken days after the Dec. 3 murder. INQUIRER file photo / KIMMY BARAOIDAN

MANILA, Philippines — The mayor of Los Baños, Laguna who was killed inside the municipal hall last December 3 suffered three gunshot wounds from a caliber 5.56 firearm, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory.

Brig. Gen. Steve Ludan, director of the PNP Crime Lab, said Monday that the medico-legal officer has recovered three metallic jacket fragments during an autopsy on the body of Mayor Caesar Perez.

“Ballistics examination conducted on the metal fragments collected from the crime scene revealed that [these] are bullet jackets fired from caliber 5.56 firearm,” he said in a press conference.

Ballistics examination conducted on the metallic fragments recovered from the victim’s body likewise revealed that they were fired from a caliber 5.56 firearm, according to Ludan.

However, Ludan said because of the bullet’s fragmented condition, investigators are not sure yet if the evidence recovered came from only one caliber 5.56 long firearm.

He said the autopsy report revealed that Perez died from gunshot wounds on his head, trunk, and right shoulder. An initial report from the Laguna police earlier stated that Perez was shot twice in the head.

Ludan added that the evidence recovered by the medico-legal officer has been encoded in the Firearm Identification System database of the PNP, but no match has so far been found as of December 10.

Perez, also a former vice governor of Laguna, was earlier included in the national government’s watchlist of government officials allegedly involved in the drug trade. He had repeatedly denied this allegation.

President Rodrigo Duterte said that the so-called narcolist that included the name of Perez did not come from him.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency later said that Perez was still bring cleared of involvement in the drug trade when he was gunned down.

JPV