Face raps, Trece Martires mayor told

MANILA, Philippines — The mayor of Trece Martires City in Cavite should return to the country to face the charges filed against him in connection with the killing of Vice Mayor Alexander Lubigan, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said yesterday.

“We urge him to return immediately so that justice can be rendered soonest in this unfortunate incident,” Jonathan Malaya, DILG spokesman and assistant secretary, said in a text message.

Malaya said they received information that De Sagun contacted his chief aide and vowed to prove his innocence.

On Thursday, the Cavite police filed murder and frustrated murder charges before the Department of Justice against De Sagun and nine other persons over the killing of Lubigan.

Senior Superintendent William Segun, Cavite police director, said De Sagun left for the US on Sept. 6 and is reportedly in Los Angeles, California.

Probers are eyeing politics as the motive for the killing, noting that Lubigan was killed after he announced his plan to run for mayor in next year’s elections.

Lubigan and De Sagun reportedly had a falling out in the 2016 elections.

Police identified the gunman as Ariel Paiton, an employee of the city hall security unit.

Lubigan and his aide Romulo Guillemer were killed in an ambush near the Korea-Philippines Friendship Hospital in Barangay Luciano last July.