CEBU CITY — A police official on Wednesday dismissed speculations that the recent ambush of Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot has the same pattern as with the attack on suspected drug lord Peter Lim’s younger brother last March.
Police Regional Office-Central Visayas (PRO-7) spokesperson Senior Supt. Reyman Tolentin said in a press conference that each case has different circumstances and they cannot be compared.
“We cannot compare. Each case is peculiar from the other. You cannot really say it’s a pattern unless there are witnesses who will prove that the people behind the Wellington Lim attack are also the same people behind the Loot incident. So, it remains to be validated,” Tolentin said.
Speculations that the Loot ambush and attack on Lim have the same pattern arose after the former police official claimed that the people behind the attempt on his life were policemen.
Loot also suggested that investigators compare the empty shells found at the Daanbantayan port with those recovered from the Infinity KTV Bar where Wellington Lim was ambushed on March 23.
In late March, Peter Lim suspected that the attack on his younger brother was government-sanctioned because the perpetrators were armed with long and high-powered firearms, like M-16 assault rifles, and used a vehicle usually issued to the Philippine National Police.
Wellington also survived the attack but it claimed the life of security guard and wounded three civilians, including two German nationals.
Loot was ambushed together with his family on Sunday, a day before the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, at the Daanbantayan port by five assailants wearing bonnets.
Two drivers of Loot and the nanny of his grandchild suffered gunshot wounds in the different parts of their bodies, but all survived.
His wife, former Daanbantayan Mayor Malou Loot, believes it was politically motivated.
Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Task Group created to look into the Daanbantayan incident was expected to meet with Loot and family later Wednesday.
The Task Group, under the supervision of PRO-7 deputy director for operations Senior Supt. Dennis Agustin, is headed by Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Senior Supt. Manuel Abrugena and supported by Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Crime Laboratory, and other special units. (With reports from Bebie Jane Casipong/PNA)
