Cops eye new leads in death of town vice mayor

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines — Probers are considering suicide or a communist rebel attack as possible leads in the death of San Andres, Quezon town vice mayor Sergio Francisco Emprese last month.

Lt. Col. Reydante Ariza, Lucena City police chief, has created a special probe team to look into the claim of Emprese’s relatives and constituents that the vice mayor committed suicide at his home and was not shot by an assailant.

“Based on the information we received, Emprese was facing a lot of problems that include his political career, pending cases and personal matters,” Ariza told The STAR in a phone interview.

Also being looked into is a letter of the New People’s Army claiming responsibility for the killing.

Police said Emprese, 60, was resting in the living room of his house in Barangay Kanlurang Mayao, Lucena City when an unidentified man entered at around 9 p.m. of Aug. 20.

Last March, he was ordered suspended for six months in connection with the cases filed before the Sandiganbayan. He was also charged with graft over the municipal government’s alleged illegal use of disaster funds in 2012 when he was mayor.