ILL-FATED VAN. A towing firm assists the elements of the Talisay City Police Office in pulling the Toyota Grandia van used by San Fernando town Mayor Lakambini Reluya when she and five others, including her husband, were ambushed on the night of Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. (Photo by John Rey Saavedra)
CEBU CITY — The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) on Wednesday said it is looking at politics as the motive behind the attack on the lady mayor of San Fernando town in Cebu province and her companions Tuesday night.
Mayor Lakambini Reluya survived the ambush but her husband, Ricardo, driver Allan Bayot and staff Ricky Monterona died on the spot when their white Toyota Hiace Grandia van was fired upon by still unidentified gunmen along the South National Highway, Barangay Linao, Talisay City, said Senior Supt. Mauel Abrugena, Cebu provincial police chief.
Reluya is now in stable condition at an undisclosed hospital where she was brought along with her two other injured companions identified by the police as Giovanni Perez and Tolentin Jefer.
“Nakikita natin sa ngayon is political in nature and at the same time maaring masabi na rin na work related of the mayor bilang local chief executive yung pag-aatake (We could see that (the attack) is political in nature and at the same time we can also say that it is related to the mayor’s work as local chief executive),” Abrugena told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in an interview.
According to him, the police are now following “some persons of interest” who might be behind the ambush.
“Actually, may kasalukuyan tayong ini-imbestiga. However, we cannot divulge the name as it might hamper the ongoing investigation,” he said.
The chief of the provincial police said they will abide by the directive of Malacañang to apply the “full force of the law” in arresting perpetrators of the crime.
Supt. Marlu Conag, Talisay City Police Office chief, said he personally escorted Reluya to the hospital minutes after they were attacked.
He said elements of the Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) recovered several empty shells of different calibers of firearms at the crime scene.
“The motive is really to kill those who are inside the van. It’s premeditated and well-planned,” Conag said.
The police said eyewitness saw four to five gunmen wearing bonnets alight from a car then proceeded to pepper the white van carrying the mayor and her group with bullets.
The Reluyas are both public servants. The mayor’s husband was ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Bayan, being president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC).
PNA also learned that the mayor is also an academician, serving the University of the Visayas as school registrar, while Ricardo was formerly a customs examiner before he entered politics.
Just last week, San Fernando town’s Barangay Magsico chairman Johnny Arriesgado, who was also a former ABC president, was shot dead in Barangay Poblacion while driving his multicab.
San Fernando municipal councilor Reneboy Dacalos was likewise shot dead by unidentified men inside the store of his brother-in-law in Barangay South Poblacion last January 10. (PNA)
