Pasay councilor shot outside mall, pronounced dead in hospital

Pasay City Councilor Borbie Rivera (Photo from his Facebook account)

Published: 10:24 p.m., Aug. 5, 2017 | Updated: 11:23 p.m., Aug. 5, 2017

Pasay City Councilor Borbie Rivera, 39, who survived an ambush last June, was shot at around 9 p.m. on Saturday by assailants on a motorcycle outside the SM Southmall in Las Piñas.

He was rushed to the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, according to Senior Supt. Marion Balonglong, chief of the Las Piñas City Police Station.

READ: Pasay councilor, aide wounded in attack outside bar

Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario, director of the Southern Police District, said the shooting was “not a robbery-holdup or an act of terrorism but purely a crime of murder.”

He ordered Las Piñas police and SPD to conduct a joint operation to identify the suspects of the killing of Rivera.

Chief Insp. Joel Cambi of Las Piñas police investigation said Rivera was shot outside Door No. 4 of SM Southmall, which is on Alabang-Zapote Road.

Chief Insp. Kimberly Molitas, the spokesperson of the National Police Capital Region, said no other casualities were reported.

Mallgoers rushed outside SM Southmall after hearing three gunshots, according to netizens. The mall was packed with people because of its three-day sale, which started on Aug. 4 and end on Aug. 6.

Cambi denied reports that a hostage taking took place inside the mall premises.

Rivera, 39, the chair of Barangay 112 and the concurrent president of the Liga ng Mga Barangay sa Pilipinas, survived an ambush in Pasay on June 23.

He was acquitted of the murder of a man in Makati in 2015.

The mall posted the following statement shortly after the incident:

There was an incident that happened, in the driveway outside the mall, involving a male customer. The customer was immediately attended to and taken to the nearby hospital accompanied by our emergency response team. The incident necessitated the temporary closure of that particular area to ensure the safety of the people in the vicinity. Our security, together with the local PNP, has already declared the mall safe to be re-opened. The Mall is back to normal operations. A joint investigation with the PNP is currently ongoing.

–With reports from Tetch Torres-Tupas and Maila Ager /atm