By CALVIN CORDOVA
CEBU CITY – “In Jesus Name!”
That was the last words that Clarin town mayor David Navarro uttered before a gunman peppered him with bullets past noon last Friday in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.
The mayor’s younger sister Princess Navarro-Madarang narrated her last moments with the mayor, who was supposed to be brought to the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office for his inquest proceedings on charges of usurpation of authority, slight physical injury and acts of lasciviousness.
The three charges stemmed from an incident that happened last Wednesday night wherein the mayor allegedly assaulted a male massage therapist.
In a separate incident, the 50-year-old mayor was also accused of asking a masseuse to fondle his private parts.
The usurpation of authority charge was based on a complaint that the mayor introduced himself as a policeman when trouble broke out in the massage spa, which was located in a hotel where the mayor had checked in.
Narrating the daylight ambush, Madarang said the armed men were aboard a white van which blocked the police vehicle that they were riding.
“They immediately fired shots when they got out of the van. I tried to shield my brother but he was pulled out of the car. I heard him shout “in Jesus name!” before he was shot,” Princess said in Cebuano.
The mayor wore a Kevlar helmet and a bullet vest but those didn’t save him.
According to witnesses, the gunman ripped off the vest and repeatedly shot the mayor in the head and body.
Aboard the vehicle along with the mayor were his sisters Princess and Novie Grace, Police Staff Sgt. Daryl Velasco, one Police Master Sgt. Balasoto, a certain Staff Sgt. Catalan, a certain Police Patrolman Javier, and Police Capt. Jun Matugas, the chief of Clarin Police Station.
The mayor sat in between Matugas and Catalan, while the Navarro sisters sat at the back.
The gunmen also fired shots at a Hyundai Starex van that was trailing the police vehicle. Aboard the van were Navarro’s consultants Beneto Johnson and Christopher Ramayrat, Clarin town administrator John Baylon, lawyer Marcelian Tapayan, Clarin councilor Remor Lomoljo, Police Chief Master Sgt. Roberto Sanoy of Clarin police station, a certain “Tambok,” and a reporter of a radio station in San Carlos City, Negros Oriental.
Catalan and Baylon were among those wounded in the attack.
At least 25 spent shells from a .45 caliber pistol and .38 spent bullets from M16 armalite rifle were recovered in the crime scene.
Police Brig. Gen. Val de Leon, chief of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas (PRO 7), said that upon the instruction of Police Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, the officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police, a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) David Navarro has been formed.
“The PRO 7 is not discounting the possibility that the perpetrators of Mayor Navarro could be his former and present associates in the underworld,” De Leon said in a statement.
Navarro was included in the President Duterte’s list of narco-politicians.
De Leon added that the police are not discounting the possibility that the killing was politically-motivated.
In a press briefing yesterday, Cebu City police chief Police Col. Gemma Vinluan said that Navarro’s family is suspecting that a certain group which previously threatened the mayor could be behind the attack.
“There was a group who threatened the mayor and that’s the reason why he tightened his security in his office in Clarin,” Vinluan said.
