Brother of New Corella town mayor gunned down

INQUIRER.net stock photo

DAVAO CITY—The brother of the incumbent mayor of New Corella town in Davao del Norte was shot and killed by an unidentified gunman on a motorcycle at Purok 5, Barangay Poblacion here on Tuesday.

Rogelio Serrano Jr., 44, who worked as an administrative aide at the New Corella municipal government, was shot in front of New Corella National High School around 7 a.m. Tuesday when he left his boarding house to eat his breakfast, Police Col. Ferlu Silvio, provincial director of the Davao del Norte Philippine National Police, told the Inquirer.

He sustained three gun wounds to the head from a caliber 45 pistol, which caused his death, Silvio said.

Serrano was the brother of incumbent New Corella Mayor Rhodora Alcoran, who is running for reelection under the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP) in next week’s midterm elections.

In her Facebook post, Alcoran said she suspected the killing of her brother was politically motivated.

“Kung inyo unta ko gipapili position o igsoon. Mo undang ko dayon ihatag nako ang position basta dili lang mawala akong igsoon (You could just have asked me to choose between my position and my brother, I would have immediately stopped so that I wouldn’t have to lose my brother),” Alcoran wrote on her Facebook. She did not name names, however, but criticized those who attacked her brother, who was not even part of her political campaign.

Silvio said police were looking into politics among other possible angles behind the killing.

“I already tasked the CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) provincial team to assist the police in probing the death of Serrano. Right now, we are looking at all possible angles behind his death, including politics,” Silvio said.