Philippine Mayor, five others killed in 'mistaken encounter'; probe underway

Philippines officials, on Tuesday, March 9, said that the police killed Catbalogan City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino and two of his aides. According to Brig. Gen. Ronaldo de Jesus, the police were on a routine patrol when they were fired upon by security aides of Aquino. He was being driven in a van in the eastern Samar province. As an act of retaliation, the police returned fire and ended up killing the mayor and his aides. 

Maybe a 'misencounter' 

According to the reports by AP, De Jesus said, “I can only assume that this was a mistaken encounter”. He added, “They had suspicions and opened fire on our policemen and our forces retaliated”. Rep. Edgar Sarmiento, who was a friend of Aquino said that the mayor was on his way to the birthday celebration of his child. "He must have been targeted." 

Reports by the Philippines news agency suggest that the police are digging deeper into the reported gunfight in the Eastern Visayas. On the same night of this incident, the PNP created a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG). This team is headed by Region 8 deputy regional director for operations Col. Edwin Wagan. However, the official is yet to come to a conclusion if this was a ‘misencounter’. 

The shooting took place at 5pm and was reported after half an hour at the city’s Laboyao Bridge in Lonoy village. It was immediately termed as an ‘ambush’. A revised version of the report was released at 8am and it disclosed that while Aquino and his aides were heading north on board a white van, one of his aides fired at the vans as they thought there was something suspicious about it. Mayor Aquino, who was 59, was serving his third term and last term as the city's chief executive. He served as mayor since 2011 after then-mayor Reynaldo Uy was killed in a fiesta celebration in Hinabangan, Samar.