Mayor charged for failed attempt to kill vice mayor
BUTUAN CITY—Criminal charges have been filed against the mayor of La Paz town in Agusan del Sur and five others in connection with the failed assassination of his vice mayor in February.
La Paz Vice Mayor Renato Muñez said he filed the charges of frustrated murder against Mayor Ambrosio Lim and five others before the city prosecutor’s office on Wednesday after one of the suspects pinpointed to the local chief executive as the alleged mastermind behind the attempt on his life.
The Inquirer repeatedly tried to reach Lim for comment, but calls and text messages on his mobile phone went unanswered.
Muñez named the whistle-blower as municipal civil security head Leonardo Liga, who was purportedly responsible for recruiting and training the hired killers.
“I have reached the point of no return. I have sufficient evidence and Mayor Lim must answer for the crime,” Muñez told the Inquirer.
On February 12, Muñez, who had also served as mayor of the town, and his driver narrowly escaped death after two gunmen on a motorcycle waylaid the car they were riding in near his home in Arujville Subdivision in Barangay (village) Libertad here.
For months, the police had failed to identify any suspects, but said politics, as a possible motive, was not being ruled out.
According to Muñez, Liga approached him on April 18 and talked about the involvement of the mayor. “Liga was troubled and haunted by his conscience so he revealed his role in the plot,” he said.
Liga was said to have recruited four assassins, mostly members of the Kuratong Baleleng gang, and promised them P1.5 million for the kill.
