Probers validating leads in Batangas exec's shooting

MANILA, Philippines – Police are validating leads they have gathered on last Thursday’s attack on a provincial board member of Batangas by a discharged Army soldier.

Senior Superintendent Melito Mabilin, deputy operations chief of the Calabarzon police, said they have artist’s sketches of the companions of former Army soldier Pfc. Jonathan Angon, 34, before he shot and seriously wounded Batangas second district board member Herminigildo Dolor, 62.

Mabilin, head of Task Force Dolor, said they have witnesses in custody who saw Angon in the company of two others several hours before the shooting.

“We are still trying to identify the two other suspects,” he said.

A police team was sent to Cagayan de Oro City to gather more information on Angon, who was gunned down minutes after he attacked Dolor.

Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto condemned the slay attempt on Dolor and called on the police to investigate it thoroughly.

Santos-Recto called on the Commission on Elections to beef up security for the candidates and their families to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Dolor was a staff sergeant in the defunct Philippine Constabulary when he applied for optional retirement in 1987. He ran for mayor in Bauan, Batangas in 1998 and got elected for three terms.

After his term ended in 2007, Dolor ran for barangay captain in Bauan until he made it as president of the Association of Barangay Captains in Batangas, eventually earning him a seat in the provincial board.

“(Dolor) is not running for any post in the May polls so we could not say as yet whether the attack on him is election-related,” Mabilin told The STAR.

Chief Superintendent Rolando Anonuevo, Calabarzon police director, said Dolor was talking to three women in front of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan building at the provincial capitol compound in Batangas City when he was shot.

Dolor was about to ride his Nissan Patrol when Angon approached him from behind and opened fire, hitting the board member in his upper back, the bullet exiting through his right chest.

The bullet also hit the right front windshield of Dolor’s vehicle. Angon escaped but policemen gave chase and killed him in a running gunbattle.

Anonuevo said Angon was discharged from the Army on Dec. 16, 2007 for grave threats, illegal discharge of firearm, indiscriminate firing, and absence without official leave (AWOL).

After his discharge, Angon, formerly assigned as light truck driver of the Army’s 401st Infantry Brigade, worked as a security guard. – With Arnell Ozaeta