KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/ 12 January)—Authorities are looking at politics as one of the motives in the killing on Friday of Vice Mayor Policronio Javier Dulay, 71, of Kabacan, North Cotabato.
Supt. Leo Ajero, Kabacan police chief, said they used as basis in their statement the information they gathered from Noel Dulay, one of the victim’s children.
Noel told authorities his father was a friendly person “who had no enemies since he entered politics more than a decade ago, after he retired from the Philippine National Police.”
For the killing of his father, Noel said the “closest motive” was politics.
“Noel was true in saying his father had no enemies. I am a friend of Vice Mayor Dulay. During the many conversations we had in the past, he has not mentioned any threats on his life. The last time we talked was just a few days ago,” Ajero said.
But who masterminded the killing of Dulay remained a puzzle to the authorities.
“Politics is just one angle. We do not stop our investigations there,” the police official said.
Dulay has been in politics for at least 12 years.
He completed his three-term as councilor of Kabacan in 2010, after which he ran for vice mayor and won.
He would have been the running mate of re-electionist Mayor George Tan under the Liberal Party in the May 2013 elections.
Challenging Dulay is Datumaidu Sultan, an independent candidate.
At around 3 p.m. Friday, Dulay was about to board his motorcycle parked just outside MC Square, located along USM Avenue in Poblacion, Kabacan, when a still unidentified gunman pumped bullets into his chest.
After the hit, the suspect walked casually to an accomplice waiting in a motorcycle parked nearby.
They fled to unknown direction, reports said.
Authorities recovered from the crime scene three slugs of a .45 caliber pistol. (Malu Cadelina Manar/MindaNews)
