Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza (seated, left) condoles with the family of slain barangay Agus chairman Jovencio Lauron.
(CDN Photo/Norman V. Mendoza)
The barangay chairman of Agus, Lapu-Lapu City was killed in an ambush in the municipality of Clarin, Bohol province at past 8 a.m. yesterday.
Jovencio Cabungcal Lauron,56, had just arrived in barangay Caboy to attend a fiesta with his wife and daughter when he was shot by motorcycle -riding men wearing full-face helmets.
Lauron served as barangay Agus chairman since 2002 and is identified with the camp of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza.
Police said Lauron had been receiving death threats but did not elaborate on the nature.
The last one was a text message sent April 27.
Lauron usually carried a licensed 9mm pistol but this time, he left it behind when the family left for Bohol.
“I asked the Police Regional Office to dig deeper into the case so the perpetrators could be identified and arrested,” Mayor Radaza said.
She and other officials went to Lauron’s house where the victim’s widow Carolina was in a state of shock.
She and her daughter, who had just passed the bar exam, returned home escorted by Bohol police in barangay Agus.
Agus barangay councilman Julian Fuentes, Carolina’s brother, said he and barangay councilmen Jayve Arong, Nestor Apa, Silverio Amit and Cesario Tampus were with the barangay chairman when they went to Clarin port.
Lauron, his family, relatives and friends arrived on board a family-owned motor banca at Clarin port before 8 a.m. to attend the two-day fiesta in Sagbayan town, said SPO4 Romil Petecio of the Clarin police precinct.
Five tricycles brought the visitors to his house in Sagbayan town five kilometers away.
Lauron sat at the back of one of the tricycles.
The tricycle driver said he noticed a blue Honda XRM motorcycle following them.
On reaching Caboy, the back rider shot Lauron twice, causing him to fall off.
Lauron still managed to get up but another gunman in the backseat of a red Honda XRM motorcycle shot him several more times before the suspects all sped away to Sagbayan town.
Lauron was rushed to the Clarin Community hospital where he died.
Police recovered six empty shells and three slugs from a .45 pistol.
Police are pursuing the perpetrators who may have fled to Sagbayan and nearby towns of Carmen, Talibon and Inabanga.