Caloocan village chief shot to death

By: Kristine Felisse Mangunay - 10 years ago

MANILA, Philippines—”This is politics. This is politics.”

These, according to Anita Bonifacio, were the last words her husband said before he died in the hospital a few minutes after he was ambushed in Caloocan City on Monday.

But Bonifacio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer over the phone she didn’t know what her husband Alejandro meant, and as far as she knew, the chairman of Barangay (Village) 163 did not have any enemies.

“He was a good man,” she said, adding that Alejandro seemed to have good relations with his co-workers.

Bonifacio admitted, however, that there might be things she didn’t know since she was “not with (her) husband all the time.”

She said she sold “hot porridge (lugaw)” as a way to increase the family’s income.

“My husband was also secretive when it came to work,” she added.

The police are still trying to determine the real motive behind Alejandro’s killing, according to Supt. Ferdinand del Rosario, the city’s investigation chief.

Alejandro was on board a Ford Everest on his way to the barangay hall when he was ambushed by two men on board a motorcycle on NPC Road corner Reparo Street at 8:45 a.m. Monday.

Bonifacio, who was also in the vehicle at that time, said Alejandro was seated in the front passenger seat, beside their driver, while she was seated at the back.

“I heard around four shots to the right, and I screamed,” she said, adding she later heard a motorcycle leave the scene.

She said she saw two men wearing motorcycle helmets carry out the attack.

Del Rosario said the police would come out with sketches of suspects based on the description of witnesses.

Senior Supt. Bernard Tambaoan, the city’s chief of police, said based on the footage from a closed-circuit television camera in the area, the gunmen were of medium build.

“But their faces were covered,” he said.