ZAMBOANGA CITY – Unidentified gunmen killed a decorated army officer who fought the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and Sulu provinces in the Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines, police said on Monday.
Police said the Lieutenant Colonel Cristobal Julian Paolo Perez was shot several times in the head and body at the back of his house in Guiwan village in Zamboanga City on Sunday evening and the shooter fled after the dating attack.
Reports said the gunman was outside the compound when he shot Perez, but Superintendent Rogelio Alabata, the regional police spokesman, said the victim was shot by motorcycle gunmen just at the back of the Secret Recipe Restaurant near Perez’s house.
“He was shot by motorcycle-riding suspects along at his mentioned address, particularly at the back of Secret Recipe Restaurant. Victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds in head and body,” Alabata told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Alabata said police investigators recovered bullet shells fired from .45-caliber pistol in the area. The 46-year old Perez – assigned with the 1st Infantry Division in Zamboanga del Sur’s Labangan town – was rushed to hospital where he died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the police.
No individual claimed responsibility for the killing, but Perez was one of the army’s top commanding officers who had been largely credited for the killings of two Malaysian bombers and Abu Sayyaf jihadists in the provinces during his stint with the 18th Infantry Battalion.
Police and military were investigating the motive of the murder. (Ely Dumaboc)
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