Negros Occ exec, guard shot dead

BACOLOD CITY—A provincial board member and his bodyguard were shot dead past 1 a.m. on Sunday as they were leaving a cockpit in Barangay Guintubdan, Isabela town, about 78 kilometers south of here.

Board Member Renato Malabor, 55, and his bodyguard Leody Jomilla, 52, came from a cockfighting derby and were walking for their vehicle at the parking lot in Asenso Village when a lone gunman shot them at the back with a 9-mm pistol.

The lone assailant, dressed in white sando, brown shorts and a ball cap, casually walked away after the shooting.

Supt. Samuel Nacion, acting Negros Occidental police director, said the police had yet to determine the motive of the killing and the identity of the gunman who killed Malabor, also former mayor of Isabela.

Nacion said he would create a special task group that would dig deeper into the killing.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. condemned the killing and offered a P2-million bounty for the arrest of the assailant.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this gruesome, politically motivated crime that befell a genuine public servant, Board Member Renato Malabor of the 5th district, and his bodyguard,” he said.

He said he directed the police and other law enforcement agencies to probe deeper into this incident.

“I am also enjoining the community to fully cooperate in the investigation of these killings so that those responsible for these heinous acts will be brought before the bar of justice” he said.

Vice Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson also expressed his condolences to the family of Malabor and Jomilla, and urged the authorities to solve the killings immediately.