ROXAS CITY — The municipal administrator of Pilar, Capiz was shot dead past 2 p.m. today in Barangay Lawa-an.
Roxas City Police Chief, Lieutenant Colonel Ricardo Jomuad Jr., confirmed the victim as John Heredia, 54 residing in San Jose Ville, Barangay Tiza.
Initial investigation showed the victim left a hardware store and was about to enter his car when one suspect approached him and opened fire.
Jomuad said the victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head.
He was declared dead-on-arrival at the Capiz Doctor’s Hospital.
According to witnesses, the suspect was wearing a face mask and a gray jacket with a hoodie.
The suspect fled the crime scene on a red Bajaj motorcycle.
The police chief said the killing was possibly related to his active support of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ECLAC) program.
“Ang ginalantaw namon nga motibo kay ining Municipal Administrator sang Pilar aktibo sa NTF-ELCAC,” said Jomuad.
In an interview, Pilar Mayor Arnold Perez was shocked about Heredia’s death, saying he could not recall any instance where Heredia mentioned any threats tohis life. He described Heredia as active in his job.
Meanwhile, Attorney Criselda Azarcon-Heredia, wife of the slain municipal administrator, confirmed that his husband received many death threats.
WIFE SURVIVES AN AMBUSH
Heredia was also a former president of National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP)-Capiz.
His wife Atty. Heredia, a human rights lawyer in Capiz, survived an ambush last Sept. 29, 2019 after attending a court hearing.
Atty. Heredia was driving, with her 26-year-old daughter and client Jimmy Dordas as passengers, when her car was strafed in Sigma, Capiz.
The mother and daughter were unhurt, but Dordas sustained minor injuries.
Nine bullet holes were left on the vehicle.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) Panay chapter released a statement holding state security forces accountable.
According to the NUPL Panay, posters in Iloilo City tagged her and several other lawyers as “minions of the Communist Party of the Philippines.”
She was also personally threatened by a military agent who visited her office and warned her to slow down on her human rights advocacy.
Heredia is also a cultural worker who performed musical presentations and mounted painting exhibits in both Iloilo and Roxas City.
She was tailed in November 2018 when she visited the wake of slain Negros Occidental human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos.
NUPL Panay said the attack came after international organizations called out President Rodrigo Duterte to protect lawyers in the Philippines./PN
