Aide of former governor killed in Digos

DIGOS CITY, Philippines – Two men on a motorcycle shot dead a man who had worked as executive assistant to former Davao del Sur governor Douglas Cagas around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The killing of Mars Labajo, who was in his late 50s, came even as the police were still trying to solve last Friday’s killing of broadcaster Samuel Oliverio.

Supt. Querubin Manalang, Digos police chief, said Labajo was inside an eatery owned by his family on Lapu-Lapu Street when he was attacked by the gunmen, who were armed with .45-caliber pistols.

Scene of Crime Operatives recovered at least seven spent shells and several slugs near Labajo’s body.

Manalang said the killers could be guns-for-hire, but it was unclear yet as to who might have hired them to kill Labajo.

“The motive has not been established either,” he said.

Manalang said the police could not say if the killings of Labajo and Oliverio were related or if these were carried out by a single group.

But he said in the case of the Oliverio killing, the perpetrators had been identified and charges have been filed against them.

Senior Supt. Michael John Dubria, Davao del Sur provincial police director, said the authorities were digging deeper into what appeared to be summary executions here.

Dubria said he had ordered police chiefs to help identify possible guns-for-hire and act against them.

“This cannot continue. This has to end,” he said.

In Kidapawan City in North Cotabato, Gov. Emmylou Taliño Mendoza offered a reward of P200,000 for anyone who could help the police identify the attackers of former village chair Bernabe Abanilla of Barangay Doruluman, Arakan town.

Abanilla, who is now a member of the governor’s office, was seriously injured when he was shot by motorcycle-riding men as he was parking his vehicle on Quezon Boulevard in Kidapawan City Monday afternoon.

“I don’t want to speculate on politics,” Taliño-Mendoza said when asked what the possible motive of the attack was. Reports from Eldie Aguirre, Orlando Dinoy, Edwin Fernandez and Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao

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