Speculation on Loot’s ambush

In March this year, businessman Peter Lim’s brother Wellington was ambushed while a security guard was guiding his black bullet-proof car out of the Infinity KTV and Music Lounge in Barangay Kamputhaw near the Cebu Business Park. The guard was killed while another guard and two German nationals were wounded.

The gunmen used high-powered firearms in the attack, prompting Peter Lim to suspect they were police, at first. (He later withdrew the allegation.) Peter Lim is on President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of suspected drug lords and was the subject, together with Wellington, of a congressional probe on drug trafficking initiated by former Cebu City congressman Antonio Cuenco in 2001.

A month before the ambush, motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and killed lawyer Jonah John Ungab while he was driving his car on S. Osmeña St. in Cebu City. He had just attended the hearing of a case filed against self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, who had linked Peter Lim and Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot to the illegal drugs trade.

Just last weekend, armed men attacked Loot and his party in the New Maya Port in Barangay Maya after the boat that ferried them from Barangay Logon in Malapascua docked. Four persons— two of Loot’s drivers, the nanny of Loot’s grandchild, and a porter were wounded. The gunmen, who were reportedly wearing masks and heard speaking in Tagalog, fled in a white van.

“Isog kaayo,” Loot said of the gunmen in a radio interview.

Loot, like Peter Lim, is in the president’s list of suspected drug lords and drug protectors. Because we are in an election period, some sectors are insinuating an “ambush me” scenario, which is unfair considering those that were hurt. Besides, the police has still to conduct a through investigation.

Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano raised the possibility that the incident was election-related because, while Loot is not running for any position in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, he is supporting candidates. But the possibility is also high that the attack is related to Loot being on the list of suspected drug lords and drug protectors.

That speculation won’t go away until the police solve the crime, something that may not be possible considering that the previous daring armed assaults mentioned earlier have not been cracked yet.