‘Love triangle’ eyed in ambush of village chief
Police ruled yesterday that the attempt on the life of a village chief is a “crime of passion.”
Insp. Marius Amar, deputy chief of La Paz Police Station, revealed that they already have the identities of the two suspects who waylaid and shot Noel Panes, 47, barangay captain of Tabuc Suba, La Paz, Iloilo City.
“It appears from our investigation that the motive is love triangle,” he said explaining that Panes has a lover, who is also married.
Panes, too, has a wife but presently works abroad.
Amar admitted that the brains behind the ambush personally carried out the plan to have the village chief killed.
“The suspects are those from the side of his lover,” he said but declined to name names.
For now, Amar said that they are still conducting follow-up investigation relative to the information that they have gathered.
To note, Panes was on his way home on board a motorcycle when two suspects shot him at Brgy. Ingore, La Paz district at around 1:00 in the morning of yesterday.
The victim suffered two gunshot wounds on the stomach.
Despite getting hit, Panes managed to drive his motorcycle and asked for help from the security guards of the nearby Panay Power Corporation, which is about 100 meters from where he was shot.
On board a PPC vehicle, he was rushed to the West Visayas State University Medical Center.
Amar said that Panes is now on stable condition.
It was not known where the victim came from but investigators said that he was under the influence of liquor when the incident happened.
