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Police have identified as a gun-for-hire the slain assassin of the re-elected mayor and a councilor of Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, who were attacked during a fiesta celebration at the municipal auditorium Sunday night.
Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, Ilocos regional police director, identified the killer of Mayor Philip Velasco and councilor Marcelo Andaya as Marlo Kabasag, believed to be in his late 20s.
Kabasag, who stood at about five feet, four inches, had tattoos of the head of an eagle and the face of Jesus Christ on both arms, he said.
Bataoil said Kabasag yielded a caliber .45 pistol and a cellular phone which authorities believe may hold the clues as to who masterminded the mayor’s killing.
Bataoil said probers were verifying the pistol’s registration records and checking the calls Kabasag had made on the mobile phone.
Bataoil said investigators were looking into three possible motives – personal, political or business-related.
Bataoil said he has met with the relatives of Velasco and Andaya to assure them of speedy justice.
He said a task force led by Senior Superintendents Pedro Austria and Felix Roman, of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Ilocos Norte police, respectively, is digging deeper into the killing to unmask the mastermind.
Re-elected Vice Mayor Nicomedes de la Cruz, now the acting mayor, led the passage of a resolution condemning the attack.
Velasco was seated beside Andaya and other local officials in the front row when the gunman shot the mayor at close range at about
Velasco was hit in the neck and below the armpit, and Andaya in the abdomen. The two died while being treated at the
Three others were hit by stray bullets. They were identified as Josefina Galapon, provincial board member Shirley Ongpin, and nine-year-old Ron-Ron Laguban. – With Myds Supnad, Evelyn Macairan, Jun Elias and Eva Visperas
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