Guns-for-hire tagged in mayor’s hubby slay

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The ambush that killed the husband of Mayor Ligaya Apura of Lemery town in Iloilo and his bodyguard was staged by hired killers, the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) said the other day.

IPPO director, Senior Supt. Gil Lebin however did not elaborate further on the result of the investigation they were conducting. “We have suspects and we are following some angles but we couldn’t divulge it for now. It might jeopardize our ongoing operations,” he said.

Shortly after the ambush that killed John Apura and Espaldon Lope, police arrested Mario Caborubias of Dumarao, Capiz. The suspect has been charged for murder in Capiz province.

Meanwhile, Mayor Apura, who runs for reelection under the United Nationalist Alliance, strongly believed that politics was behind the incident. “They thought that by killing my husband, they could cripple me … that I would be paralyzed and won’t do some campaigning,” she said.

The mayor theorized that she and her husband could be the targets of the killing. She claimed that when they are doing campaign rally, she used to ride with her husband. “Maybe, they thought I was in the car. This is really politics,” she said.

Before the incident, she admitted that her husband received threats through text messages. But police claimed that the Apuras apparently kept these threats to themselves. (FREEMAN)