STL firm exec dies 5 days after gun attack

LEGAZPI CITY — A Small Town Lottery (STL) operator in Albay province died in a hospital here on Monday, five days after he was shot and wounded in an attack by suspected guns- for-hire in this city’s business district, police said.

Senior Supt. Nilo Berdin, Legazpi City police chief, said Alex German Alemania, chair of the Lucky V Prime Enterprises Inc., the STL operator in Albay, died at 10:30 a.m. at the Albay Doctors’ Hospital here where he was being treated for a bullet wound in the stomach.

Alemania and a woman companion were attacked by two men on a motorcycle as they were parking their van in a shopping mall here on Nov. 15.

The gunmen fled, but policemen pursued them, resulting in a shootout that killed one of the suspects, Marlon Magsino of Malvar town in Batangas province. The other suspect, Michael Malveda of Lipa City also in Batangas, was wounded and arrested.

Berdin said the frustrated murder charge filed against Malveda on Friday would be upgraded to murder following Alemania’s death. Malveda is facing another charge of frustrated homicide after Alemania’s companion was wounded in the attack.

Berdin said Alemania, in an affidavit he executed before he died, had suspected that two members of his firm’s board were behind the attack.

He said Alemania admitted that there was an “internal problem” and “misunderstanding” between him and the two board members. This prompted Alemania to file a complaint against the board members with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), the government agency overseeing STL operations in the country.

Gov. Al Francis Bichara said he would ask President Duterte to stop STL operations in Albay following the incident.

Bichara said he would also ask the PCSO to cancel the franchise given to Lucky V.

“I would not allow that this province be used as a battleground of warring STL operators from other areas,” he said.

Bichara said he would consult with provincial board members and the 18 town and city mayors of Albay regarding his proposal to cancel the business permit issued to the firm. —Mar S. Arguelles