Cops arrest suspect in slay try on Quezon mayoral bet

LUCENA CITY—Nearly two weeks after a mayoral candidate in General Nakar, Quezon province, survived a gun attack, police arrested a man believed to be behind the murder attempt early on Friday.

The suspect, Danilo Lucero, an alleged gun-for-hire, was caught around 5:30 a.m. in Barangay Kiloloron in Real town, about 30 minutes by car from General Nakar, said Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, provincial police chief.

Eliseo Rozul, 58, a National Unity Party candidate for General Nakar’s top post and brother of the outgoing mayor, Leovigildo Rozul, was driving a Nissan Safari utility vehicle in the town’s Barangay Magsikap when he was fired upon five times by a man riding on a motorcycle.

He was hit in the knees, while his three companions were unharmed.

Ylagan immediately created a task force, composed of members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the police crime laboratory, to investigate the ambush.

According to the official, Lucero was identified in an artist’s sketch based on descriptions given by several witnesses. The suspect did not resist when the policemen arrested him near a beach resort around 5:30 a.m., but he yielded a homemade .38-cal. revolver with five live bullets.

Ylagan said investigators were still trying to gather Lucero’s personal details.

Citing information from a staff member of the beach resort,

Ylagan said a bag and the motorcycle found near the crime scene were being used by the suspect and another companion where they had earlier stayed there.

Lucero is being held at the Real police jail but would be transferred to the provincial police headquarters at Camp Nakar here for further investigation.

In a phone interview, Mayor Rozul hailed the arrest as a “breakthrough” and said he hoped that it would lead to the unmasking of the mastermind behind the slay attempt. He is serving his last term and has endorsed his brother as his successor.

He had earlier said he believed that the attack on his brother was politically motivated. Ylagan, however, said police had yet to determine the motive but did not discount a political angle.

The victim had been discharged from a Manila hospital where he was brought for treatment and is now back in General Nakar.

“Both of us are observing all measures to ensure our safety,” Mayor Rozul said. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon