Vigilantes behind Aguilar killing?

Was barangay chairman Albert "Abet" Aguilar slain by an anti-crime vigilante group?

This question was raised after the Las Piñas police discovered that the assassins of Aguilar, president of the local Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) were members of the Citizen’s Crime Watch (CCW).

Senior Police Officer 1 Ben Javier of the Las Piñas police criminal investigation division identified Aguilar’s killer as Delfin Liberato, 54, married, a steel works contractor, and resident of barangay Burol II, Damari II, Dasmariñas, Cavite, said to be a former police officer of Maayon, Capiz.

Liberato was mauled to death by a mob after the shooting, the police said.

Police identified him through his driver’s license. Also found in one of his pockets was an identification card identifying him as a member of the CCW chapter in Cavite.

One of Liberato’s cohorts had also been identified, probers said.

It was in the house of his cohort, said to be a known member of CCW Las Piñas chapter, where Liberato stayed for several days before the shooting.

"The killing seems to have been well-planned," SPO1 Javier said.

Police declined to identify Liberato’s accomplice pending "follow-up investigation."

Probers said Liberato was accompanied by three persons, one of them a woman, when he lay in wait for Aguilar to come out of the barangay hall of CAA-BF Homes International along Saging street at around 12:45 p.m. Thursday.

Aguilar, accompanied by his bodyguard and barangay tanod Lumido Masanga, Jr., 45, had just boarded his car and the two were about to drive off when Liberato blocked the path of the vehicle and fired a volley of shots at Aguilar and Masanga.

Barangay tanod Mario Nolate, 31, who was nearby, rushed to the aid of his boss and went after Liberato, grabbing the assassin’s .45 pistol.

During the struggle, Police Officer 1 Jonathan Estrada of the Southern Police District’s Logistics Division came to help Nolate but Liberato managed to fire at him. Estrada hit Liberato when he fired back.

The latter was limping away when an angry mob of Aguilar’s constituents cornered him and mauled him to death.

Aguilar succumbed to a gunshot wound in his left shoulder while being rushed to the Perpetual Help Hospital. Masanga is still in critical condition at the same hospital from a gunshot wound in the head.

Old-time Las Piñas residents told The STAR that the Aguilar slay was most likely related to the rampant illegal drug peddling in the barangay CAA-BF Homes International area.

Aguilar supporters claimed Aguilar had been waging an intensified anti-illegal drugs drive in the CAA area, a squatter community known as a haven of illegal drug peddling.

This, however, was denied by some residents who said that Aguilar was known for a weak or non-existent anti-illegal drug campaign in his area.

The slain Aguilar, who as president of the city’s Association of Barangay Chairmen (ABC), sat in the city council, was a son of Filemon "Sonny" Aguilar Jr.