LOOT: IT’S POLICE’S JOB TO SECURE ME
Four persons were hit in different parts of their bodies during the attack, which happened a day before the elections CPPO spokesperson said the police escort assigned to Loot was pulled out because of today’s brgy., SK polls Loot’s household workers had
Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot, who was tagged as a drug protector by President Rodrigo Duterte, was unharmed after five armed men attacked his party in the New Maya Port in Barangay Maya yesterday morning.
Four persons were hit in different parts of their bodies during the attack, which happened on the day before the barangay and youth council elections.
The wounded include Loot’s driver Arnel Rosario, 47. He was hit twice in the buttocks.
Another driver, Ruben Castañeda, 50, suffered a gunshot wound in the buttocks as well. The nanny of Loot’s grandchild, Jerly Rossel, 26, was hit in the right leg and left knee. Porter Bernabe Ypsor, 58, was also wounded.
Loot, a retired police general, said there were no police in the port. Supt. Virgilio Bayon-on, CPPO spokesperson, said the police escort assigned to Loot was pulled out because of the elections.
Loot was still in the pump boat when the gunmen opened fire. The masked armed men clad in shorts and long-sleeved sweat shirts were reportedly heard speaking in Tagalog.
Loot described the attack in broad daylight as “brazen.”
“Isog kaayo (Very daring),” he said in a radio dyLA interview.
Loot called his classmates and requested for a thorough investigation from the police, National Bureau of Investigation and other investigating bodies.
He said someone had informed him, but he did not elaborate.
“May nag-alarma na sa ako (Someone had alerted me about it),” he said.
When asked if the attack was part of the move to liquidate him, Loot replied: “Those in authorities know better. They do their job aron mahibaw-an nila kon unsa ni siya (so they’ll know what this was about).”
Loot said he is not worried about himself, but his family.
“I can fight back kon wala lang ang pamilya nako,” he said. He further said he has no problem with his personal security.
“Problema na sa awtoridad. Problema na sa PNP (That problem belongs to the authorities and the PNP). They owe it to me. It is their job to secure me,” he said.
He said he did not receive a single death threat, but he heard that his political enemies expressed on Facebook that they wanted him dead. Loot has repeatedly tried to clear his name after the President made public his allegations in 2016, and no charge has been filed against the retired police general.
Loot and his family came from Barangay Logon, Malapascua before the attack happened around 7:20 a.m. Sunday. They had visited the village as it celebrated its fiesta last Saturday.
His stepson, Provincial Board Member Sun Shimura, wife former Daanbantayan mayor Maria Luisa Loot, Shimura’s wife and the Loots’ five grandchildren were also on board M/B Mabuhay 5.
According to Senior Insp. Irish Delim, Daanbantayan police chief, the armed men were in a white van. Two motorcycle-for-hire drivers noticed the numbers “5884” on the license plate. The culprits’ getaway vehicle was parked 100 meters from the crime scene. Three men served as lookouts.
Loot’s household workers went out of the boat first, and two of the armed men opened fire, hitting them and the Loots’ family service van. After shoot-
Problema na sa awtoridad. Problema na sa PNP. They owe it to me. It is their job to secure me. MAYOR VICENTE LOOT
ing, the two armed men boarded the white van, which sped off. The boat then moved away from the port.
Police recovered 19 empty shells from a 5.56 caliber, a bullet from an M16 rifle, in the crime scene.
Loot believed the culprits stayed in Daanbantayan in the past two days.
The wounded were rushed to Daanbantayan District Hospital, but they were transferred to another hospital in Cebu City for further treatment./