Witnesses to mayor’s killing get protection

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice has placed two witnesses in the Dec. 20 fatal shooting of Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur, Mayor Ocol Talumpa under government protection after linking a former mayor of the town to themurder.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said last Friday that the two witnesses had submitted sworn statements on the attack on Talumpa, which also killed his wife, their nephew and a toddler who was not related to the mayor and was just at the airport with his parents.

“These witnesses were just three or four feet away from the mayor during the incident and they actually saw it and heard (the gunman say) ‘mayor, mayor, para kay Mayor Kitty Nandang ito (mayor, mayor, this is for Mayor Kitty Mandang),” De Lima said.

“Kitty Nandang” is Wilson Mandang, a former mayor of Labangan and a political rival of Talumpa.

Talumpa’s eldest daughter, Rayam, has implicated Nandang in the killing of her parents and cousin.

De Lima said the two witnesses positively identified the gunman and his companion.

Know the gunman

She said the witnesses knew the gunman whom they averred was from their province.

“[The witnesses] will be given protection under the Witness Protection Program,” De Lima said.

Last week, the police filed murder and frustrated murder charges against Marrox Genem Amlong and two John Does in the Pasay prosecutor’s office.

Talumpa’s daughter said Amlong was a former security aide of Nandang.

Police are hunting Amlong and the other suspect.

Three motives

Earlier, De Lima said the National Bureau of Investigation, which is also investigating Talumpa’s murder, was looking into three possible and related motives in the killing of the mayor and all involved Nandang.

But De Lima declined to say whether or not the former Labangan mayor was a suspect in the killing of Talumpa.

She, however, said Rayam Talumpa had written to her to ask for protection for her family and the witnesses, as all of them had been receiving death threats.

On Dec. 20, Talumpa, who was with a group of 12 people, arrived in Metro Manila for a vacation, but was attacked outside the arrival area of the airport by two men on a motorcycle.

The gunman was disguised as a policeman, police said.

Killed in the attack was the mayor, his wife and nephew Salipudin.

Child hit

One-year-old Philip Thomas Lirasan, whose family was standing nearby, was hit and killed as the gunman sprayed his targets with bullets.

Five others were wounded in the attack—two from the Talumpa family and three from the Lirasan family.