Bote’s widow says cops have not yet revealed suspected mastermind

GENERAL TINIO, NUEVA ECIJA – The widow of slain Mayor Ferdinand Bote on Saturday said she has not yet been provided details about the identity of the suspected mastermind behind his July 3 assassination in Cabanatuan City.

Saying they were grateful for the arrest of two of Bote’s alleged killers, Mayvelyn Bote stressed, “We need to know the reason why my husband was attacked and who ordered his death.”

The police arrested suspected hitmen Florencio Suarez and Robert Gumacay at a checkpoint in Camarines Sur on July 11. They allegedly attacked Bote as his vehicle exited the compound of a government agency.

READ: 2 suspects in Mayor Bote slay nabbed in Camarines Sur

The following day, Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police, announced that Suarez and Gumacay have identified their employer, who is now the subject of a manhunt. He did not elaborate.

Mrs. Bote, who turns 57-years-old on Monday, said the family trusts and relies on the police. “The family continues to grieve over the murder of my husband. We will not stop until he gets justice with the help of the police and President Duterte,” she said in an interview.

Mrs. Bote said her husband did not have security escorts because he always believed that “God is always with him,” she said.

“I wish the families of other public servants will not suffer what happened to us. It brings too much pain,” Mrs. Bote said.

Mayor Bote was a member of the administration party PDP-Laban, which is expected to nominate his widow to a vacated seat in the town council, after the top councilor assumed the post of vice mayor. Vice Mayor Melvin Pascual had succeeded Bote as mayor. /je