Slain ex-mayor’s residence in slum area puzzles police

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MANILA, Philippines — Why was a former mayor of a town in Samar living in an urban poor community in Mandaluyong City?

A Mandaluyong police officer asked this question in investigating the killing of Constancio Pacanan, 51, former mayor of Motiong town in Eastern Samar, at his residence on Carrot Street in Welfareville Compound in Barangay Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City, on Saturday night.

Senior Police Officer 2 Disilito Custodio, investigator on case, said that at exactly 10:45 p.m., his neighbors heard a commotion inside the former mayor’s home before a gunshot rang out.

Pacanan was later found dead on the spot, with gunshot wounds on his face and in his right shoulder.

Moments before the shooting, Pacanan was heard shouting “Get out! Go back tomorrow,” Custodio said.

At least two men slammed the door shut and left Pacanan who was later found by his neighbors sprawled on the floor.

Investigators, who arrived at the scene minutes after the shooting, turned over his body and saw wounds in his back, which appeared to have been caused by stabbing.

Custodio said the police have been exploring at least three angles in the killing.

“What interests us is the notebook containing the list of people who owe him money,” he said.

The police officer could not count how many names the former mayor had in his notebook. “It could be the entire compound,” he said.

Some owe Pacanan as much as P50,000 while others were indebted to him by as small as P5,000.

His neighbors told investigators, however, that the victim was lending his money not for profit but for “kawanggawa (charity).”

“He was a good man, according to his neighbors,” Custodio said adding that no one in the compound knew if he had enemies.

Police said the former mayor probably knew his attackers and had even invited them for a drink. Some opened bottles of liquor were seen on the dining table at his house, said the police.

Police speculated that the killers might have asked the victim to lend them some cash but the latter refused.

But police were puzzled that the former mayor was settling in Welfareville compound, one of the largest urban poor communities in Metro Manila.

“His house seemed not appropriate for his stature,” the investigator said of the 80 square-meter house of the former mayor.

The police also discovered that he had been renting out the second floor of the house to a tenant.

The Mandaluyong police are now looking at robbery or his political involvement in Eastern Samar as angles for investigation.

“All his money was missing and only P40 remained in his two wallets,” he said adding the victim’s Taurus 9mm pistol was also missing.

Custodio said there were talks in the victim’s neighborhood about his plan to run for mayor in Motiong, Samar in the 2013 elections.

“We still have to speak to his relatives. The victim had been living alone in his Mandaluyong house since last year,” he said.

Pacanan served as town mayor of Motiong from 2004 to 2007. He won the elections in 2007 by three votes against Francisco Langi Sr, but the Commission on Elections declared his opponent as the rightful winner. He again lost in the 2010 elections.