CAMP MIGUEL MALVAR, Batangas – Police suspect that the assassins of the mayor of Balete, Batangas have military backgrounds based on how they executed the ambush-slay.
Mayor David Pamplona, together with his adopted daughter and three companions, was cruising the highway in Barangay Bulihan, Malvar town, a few meters away from the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, on board a Nissan Exalta on his way to Manila when he was waylaid by at least three gunmen last Wednesday morning.
Pamplona died in the hospital from M-16 Armalite bullet wounds, while his driver Jerson Diokno, househelp Jonalyn Gonzalez and a certain Marilyn Pagayunan were wounded. The mayor’s adopted daughter, Lorelyn, 23, was unscathed.
Senior Superintendent David Quimio, Batangas police director, told The STAR that the slay plot was precisely done by people who had proper police or military training.
Quimio said Pamplona’s assailants monitored his movement from the time he left his house in Balete town until he reached the ambush site, which he described as aptly chosen as there were nearly no houses there.
Quimio admitted that probers were having a hard time looking for witnesses because of the remote location of the ambush site.
“No one, even (the mayor’s companions) could (remember) the facial features of the gunmen,” he said.
Quimio, however, said he is still optimistic that the case would be solved.
“We are not yet considering this incident as a hopeless case. Hopefully may maglakas pa rin ng loob para tumestigo (somebody would be brave enough to testify),” he said.
Quimio has formed a task force headed by Superintendent Flaviano Garcia Jr. to go after Pamplona’s assassins. – Arnell Ozaeta