MANILA – Investigators are looking at the possible link of politics and communist activity in the murder of AKO Bicol Party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe over the weekend, police said Monday.
Batocabe, 52, was distributing Christmas gifts in his hometown in Daraga, Albay when he and his police escort were gunned down by at least 6 assailants.
The lawmaker succumbed to 8 gunshot wounds from .40 and .45 caliber firearms, and the assailants walked away from the crime scene by mixing in with the crowd, said Chief Supt. Arnel Escobal, Bicol police chief.
The assassination, he said, bears a similarity with earlier killings perpetrated by a gun-for-hire group, whose patrons include some “unscrupulous politicians.”
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