Ex-Batangas village chief, son shot dead

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – A former barangay chairman engaged in money lending and his eldest son were gunned down by two motorcycle-riding men in front of their house in Calaca, Batangas on Saturday morning, authorities said.

Senior Inspector Jose Naparato, Calaca police chief, said Apolinario Padilla Sr., former chairman of Barangay Puting Bato West, and his son Apolinario Jr., 29, were brought to the Don Juan Mayuga Hospital and Our Lady of Caysaysay Hospital, respectively, but were both declared dead on arrival.

Naparato said the elder Padilla was standing outside his house when one of the two men approached him from behind and shot him. His son came to his rescue, but he, too, was gunned down.

Naparato said the gunman then boarded a motorcycle driven by his cohort a few meters away from the Padilla residence and sped toward Lemery town.

Police recovered several empty .45-caliber shells from the crime scene and brought them to the police crime laboratory for ballistic tests.

A day before the killing, Naparato said the two men were looking for Padilla, and bystanders even saw them waiting in the store of Padilla’s sister for an hour.

Naparato said they were checking a report that Padilla and his assailants, who are suspected to be members of a gun-for hire group, met before the former village chief was slain.

He said probers were still checking if the killing had something to do with Padilla’s money lending business or his job as a former barangay chairman.