ROXAS City – The municipal administrator of Pilar, Capiz was shot to death by masked motorcycle-riding gunmen around 2:20 p.m. yesterday in front of a hardware store in Barangay Lawa-an here.
John Heredia, 54, was a resident of San Jose Village, Barangay Tiza here. He was about to enter his car when attacked.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Ricardo Jomuad Jr., chief of the Roxas City Police Office, Heredia sustained multiple gunshot wounds, with the fatal one on his head.
The triggerman was wearing a facemask and a gray hoodie jacket, Jomuad told Panay News, citing statements from witnesses.
He quickly left after the shooting onboard a red Bajaj motorcycle driven by a similarly masked accomplice.
Heredia was rushed to the Capiz Doctor’s Hospital where he was declared “dead on arrival.”
Police recovered four spent shells of a .45-caliber pistol from the crime scene.
What could be the motive?
Heredia was an active supporter of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in the town, Jomuad pointed out, and this “may be a motive” in the killing.
In an interview, Pilar’s Mayor Arnold Perez expressed shocked. He could not recall Heredia mentioning any threat to his life.
Perez described Heredia as “active” in his job.
Atty. Criselda Azarcon-Heredia, wife of the slain municipal administrator, confirmed her husband had been receiving death threats.
According to the National Union of Journalist of the Philippines-Capiz, Heredia was the first and the longest-sitting chairperson of the chapter.
WIFE AN ‘AMBUSH SURVIVOR’
In September 2019, John’s wife, a human rights lawyer, survived an ambush after attending a court hearing.
Criselda was with her 26-year-old daughter who was driving their vehicle and client Jimmy Dordas when her car was strafed in Sigma town.
The Heredias were unhurt but the client sustained minor injuries.
The vehicle sustained nine bullets holes.
Criselda said the target of the assailants – armed men in at least one motorcycle – could either be her or her client.
She was also tailed in November 2018 when she visited the wake of slain Negros Occidental human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos.
KILLING REAPS CONDEMNATION
In a statement, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers Panay chapter said this case should be investigated “promptly and properly.”
“These events highlight the impunity with which extrajudicial killings are being carried out in this country,” it said.
“Under this administration, lives have, indeed, become so cheap as innocent people – activists, farmers, labor leaders, environmental defenders, and lawyers – are being murdered by the score,” it added./PN
