Suspect in ambush of ex-mayor of Samar falls

CATBALOGAN CITY — One of the assailants in the shooting of a former mayor in Samar has been arrested.

Arnel Babatio, 18, a chainsaw helper and a resident of Barangay San Nicolas, San Jose de Buan town, was collared after residents tipped off the police about a wounded man on board a motorcycle-for-hire about 10:40 a.m. on Monday.

SPO3 Dante Evangelista, deputy police chief of San Jose de Buan town, said Babatio was suspected to be one of the four assailants who shot former San Jose de Buan mayor Ananias Rebato.

Rebato’s bodyguard, Severino R. Tesoro Jr. was killed in the ambush in the town’s Barangay Baclayon past 1 a.m. on Monday.

His close-in security personnel also managed to fire at the assailants,
hitting one of the four who managed to escape.

Evangelista said residents in Barangay Poblacion noticed a wounded person on board a habal-habal motorcycle and immediately tipped off the police.

Evangelista said the police learned that the suspect was on his way to a local clinic to have his gunshot wound treated.

He said that after the suspect was accosted by the police, Babatio was brought to the Samar Provincial Police Office in Catbalogan City for investigation./lb