Los Baños, Laguna Mayor Caesar Perez was gunned down by unidentified attackers at the municipal hall Thursday night.
Col. Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesperson of the Laguna Police Provincial Police, said the 66-yearold Perez was on his way back to his office after having a massage in Barangay Baybayin when unidentified gunmen shot him at least two times at the back of his head while he was walking at the receiving lounge of the municipal hall.
“The gunmen fled after the incident. They are now the subject of our operation,” said Gaoiran.
Perez, on the other hand, was taken to the HealthServ Medical Hospital in Los Baños where he died after 30 minutes of medical procedure to revive him.
He was declared dead at 9:25 p.m.
Perez, who also served as vice governor of Laguna, was among those named by President Duterte as being involved in illegal drugs trade.
But Perez had vehemently denied the allegation and pointed to local politics as the reason behind his inclusion in Duterte’s narcolist.
Laguna Governor Ramil Hernandez expressed his condolences to the Perez family and the mayor’s constituents.
“Taos pusong nakikiramay ang inyong lingkod, sampu ng aking pamilya, sa mga naiwang kapamilya at kababayan sa Los Baños ni Mayor Caesar P. Perez (My family and I offer our heart-felt condolences to the family and Los Baños constituents of Mayor Caesar P. Perez),” the governor wrote in a Facebook post.
“Mariin kong kinokondena ang nangyaring pagpatay kay Mayor Perez at pinag-uutos ko ang masusing imbestigasyon ukol sa bagay na ito upang makamit ang nararapat na hustisya. (I strongly condemn the killing of Mayor Perez and I already ordered a thorough investigation on the incident to make sure that justice is served),” he added.
Following the town hall attack, the Philippine National Police (PNP) created a special task force to look into the killing.
Gaoiran said the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) will be headed by Lt. Col. Jesson Bombasi, the Deputy Provincial Director for Operations of the Laguna police.
Gaoiran told the Manila Bulletin that the SITG will look into all possible angles behind the killing of Perez.