Vice mayor of Tapaz, Capiz, aide shot dead

At least three motorcycle-riding men armed with .45-caliber pistols shot dead a town vice mayor in Capiz province, right in the middle of a village fiesta Saturday evening. Sketchy initial reports said the killers shot dead Victor Gardose, vice mayor of Tapaz town in Capiz, and killed Gardose’s aide, who was not identified. "Mukhang professional ang mga pumatay. Akala namin sisindi lang ng sigarilyo, yun pala naglabas ng cal-.45 (The killers appeared to be professional. We thought they were just lighting a cigarette. It turned out they already drew their pistols and fired at the vice mayor)," an affiliate station of dzXL radio based in Roxas City quoted witnesses as saying. Friends and relatives of the vice mayor said they suspect politics was behind the incident, but added it was unlikely that the communist New People’s Army (NPA) had a hand in the killing. Capiz is one of the areas in Western Visayas that the police consider to be "rebel-infested." The incident took place at Taft village in Tapaz at about 7 p.m., as Gardose was on his way to the coronation night of the town fiesta queen. Initial accounts indicated that Gardose had just alighted from his vehicle when the gunmen fired at him. Radio station dzRH reported that Gardose was acting mayor of the town at the time, as mayor Romualdo Exmundo was supposedly on vacation in Metro Manila. The police have launched a manhunt for the suspects, who were last seen escaping on motorcycles without license plates towards Calinog town in Iloilo, which leads to Central Panay. Western Visayas regional police director Chief Supt. Geary Barias ordered checkpoints set up, and a full investigation into the incident. Tapaz is a third-class town in Capiz, with a population of 44,085 people in 8,739 households. Radio dzXL quoted friends and relatives of Gardose, and even some police officials in the area, as saying politics was the likely motive and not the NPA. It was not immediately clear, however, what Gardose’s political plans were for the May 2007 elections. "Masasabing malapit ang vice mayor sa NPA. Ayon sa pamilya niya wala rin siyang kaaway (He is considered to be close to local NPA leaders. And his family said he has no known enemies)," dzXL radio quoted a local police official, who did not give his name, as saying. - GMANews.TV