Malabon City councilor shot dead

Two unidentified men fatally shot a Malabon City councilor in front of his house at 4 p.m. Saturday, a SuperRadyo DZBB report said.  

 

FLASH: Malabon City 2nd District Councilor Merlin “Tiger” Mañalac, patay matapos pagbabarilin sa harap ng kaniyang bahay. | @luisitosantos03

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) January 23, 2016

 

 

Councilor Merlin “Tiger” Mañalac had just stepped out of his house in Barangay Tinajeros when he was shot.

 

A witness told Super Radyo dzBB's James Agustin that as Mañalac stepped out of his house, two men aboard a motorcycle drove up from Mejorada Street. The motorcycle's passenger then got off, pulled out a pistol, and shot Mañalac three times.

The gunman then shot the victim twice more, before he and his partner drove away. However, in his frantic rush to get away, the shooter dropped his wallet and one of his flip-flops.

Though the motorcycle's driver was wearing a crash helmet which hid his face, the witness was able to get a good look at the shooter, who was described as a six-feet tall, dark with a heavy build, bald, round-faced and long-chinned.

Mañalac, meanwhile, was rushed to the Manila Central University Hospital where he was declared dead.

Malabon City Mayor Antolin Oreta III offered a P200,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects involved in the shooting of Mañalac.

Mañalac is the son of Boyong Mañalac, a bemedalled policeman whose life story became a box office hit in 1991.

Nuevo Filipinas, purportedly a right-wing group, posted on Facebook an alleged statement from Partisano, reportedly the armed wing of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines, that claims responsibility for the killing.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the victim's cousin Jojie Mañalac, denied that Tiger was a drug-dealer, as alleged by a Partisano leaflet. Neither was Tiger involved in prostitution and gambling, and neither did he have anyone killed.

According to Jojie, their family was convinced that the leaflet was designed to confuse investigators, and that the killing had something to do with politics.

Sympathy messages were posted on social media a few hours following the ambush-slaying of Mañalac.

 

 

— APG/DVM, GMA News