Gunmen in 2 Ecija attacks the same?

STA. ROSA, Nueva Ecija — Police suspect that the attackers of the vice mayoral candidate of the Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats) here and his elder brother last Wednesday night could be the same ones who killed a nephew of the late former Cabanatuan City mayor Honorato Perez Sr. two weeks ago.

SPO3 Armando Santiago, officer-on-case, noted a similar pattern in the slay attempt on vice mayoral bet Amando Sapiandante and his brother, Armando, and the Jan. 25 killing of Claudio Perez.

"Like in the murder of Perez, the (Sapiandantes’ attackers) also rode a motorcycle. There’s a strong possibility that the (attackers) were one and the same," he said.

Superintendent Marlon Bingcang, this town’s police chief, said Armando and Perez were known buddies and that the gunmen in last Wednesday’s attack were after Armando and not the vice mayoral candidate.

"Amando got involved because he went out of the house when Armando was shot," he said.

Armando was hit in the right leg, and Amando in the neck. They are now confined in an undisclosed hospital in Manila.

Amando is the running mate of Antonio Romero, who is challenging the re-election bid of Mayor Marlon Mercado.

The attack on the Sapiandantes came two weeks after Perez was gunned down in front of his apartment in Barangay Magsaysay Norte.