Ex-mayor shot dead

CATARMAN, Northern Samar —A retired prosecutor, who served as a municipal mayor in the 1990s, was shot and killed while he was having coffee at his porch early Monday.

Police officials have yet to determine the motive in the killing of Harold Acompaniado, who was also a law professor at University of Eastern Philippines (UEP). They are looking into his job as a lawyer as one angle, said PO3 Jim Cutorio, homicide investigator.

In December last year, Acompaniado went to the police station in Catarman town to report that he had been receiving death threats, said Supt. Alberto Garcia Jr., municipal police chief. He declined to elaborate, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.

Acompaniado was mayor of Las Navas town in Northern Samar province from 1992 to 1995, and was a municipal board member from 1995 to 1998. In 1998, he became assistant provincial prosecutor and was assigned to the regional trial court in Laoang town, Northern Samar.

He retired in 2013 and returned to private practice.

Acompaniado was sitting at his porch and having coffee in Barangay (village) Zone 2, Catarman, about 5:30 a.m. when he was shot in the head and chest from across the street with a .45-cal. pistol, Garcia said. The assailant walked away casually, he added. Rachel Arnaiz and Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas