It’s quite difficult to assess the chances of the police solving last Sunday dawn ambush of the Loot family at a port in Daanbantayan town, Cebu, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.
Based on accounts of the witnesses, the assailants actually had the generosity to warn those people at the dock to get down as they proceeded to spray gunfire at Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot and his family along with the families of his son and stepson.
There were two possible theories floated about for the motive and identities of the assailants and mastermind but while Loot’s wife and former Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot claimed politics as the motive behind the assault, the mayor’s claim that the ambush was linked to his alleged drug ties was the more plausible scenario.
If President Rodrigo Duterte named him and a lot of others including former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama as alleged drug lord coddlers, then they might as well be wearing targets behind their backs.
The assailants rode vans and are believed to carry high-powered firearms. If all of them were killed, including children, imagine the public response to the incident which won’t all be favorable.
While administration loyalists will praise to high heavens the ruthless attack as yet another victory for the government’s anti-drug war, their contention will be sorely challenged by the sight of bloodied bodies caught in the crossfire, especially children.
Loot may or may not be tied to the illegal drug trade but killing him in front of his family and children is a new low, even for those who profess to hate the drug menace.
So it is likely that the ambush was more of a warning, rather than a calculated assault.
It’s also hard to believe that a group of vigilantes is responsible for the ambush given their possession of high-powered firearms and a getaway vehicle on standby, ready to take off at a moment’s notice.
The incident also came on the heels of the recent attack on businessman Wellington Lim, who is also accused of drug ties along with his brother and businessman Peter Lim at a bar in Cebu City.
As is the usual case with these ambushes, we hope the police won’t go through the motions on this case since both the victims and the public have a right to know who is behind the attack and whether or not they will be prosecuted.
It’s hard to believe that the ambush was an isolated incident owing to the broad daylight execution of yet another high-profile figure, Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab, the legal counsel of confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa.
If anything the assailants and the mastermind will be emboldened to stage yet another attack unless the police get to unmask and go after them.
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