‘Shoot to kill order’ prompts Labao to escape, says lawyer

By: Felipe V. Celino ROXAS City – The counsel of Mambusao mayoral bet Leodegario Labao yesterday claimed his client sneaked out from St. Paul Hospital in Iloilo City last April 14 after learning that there was allegedly a “shoot to kill” order against him. Lawyer Leodegario Dadivas said Labao escaped from the premises of the said hospital when he was informed there was a shoot to kill order against him allegedly from the police. “Engr. Labao wants to save his life the reason why he sneaked out from the hospital premises rather than to be killed by the people running after him,” Dadivas said in an interview by DyOW Bombo Radyo. The lawyer said he was on his way to Iloilo to visit Labao at the hospital when the former called him over his phone. He said Labao told him “patyon nila ako (they will kill me)”. Since then, he added, Labao did not call him anymore. Dadivas said the camp of the contractor, who was tagged as the mastermind behind the killing of former Mambusao vice mayor Abel Martinez, has lots of legal options to prevent his immediate arrest. These include the pending motion for reconsideration they filed before the Department of Justice and the Omnibus Motion for Labao’s hospital arrest. Dadivas said that while they were shocked and saddened with the turn of events, “we are here to protect the rights of our client.” He said he was surprised with what he claimed as the haste issuance of the warrant of arrest against Labao, saying 30 minutes of reviewing the 22-page resolution would not be enough to immediately issue the arrest warrant. Labao he said is contemplating to voluntarily surrender to local authorities to prove his innocence in the charges filed against him. ‘POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED’ The lawyer also described the non-bailable murder case as politically-motivated. Labao is the only one among the five accused in Martinez’s murder who is still at large. His four other co-accused, Philippine Army Staff Sergeant Rommel Pamotillo, Geger Francisco, Sunday Danid and Roger Loredo, are now in the custody of police. Martinez, 79, died from five bullet wounds after he was shot by a lone gunman outside his house in Barangay Poblacion Proper, Mambusao town, 45 kilometers southeast of Roxas City. The killer fled on a motorcycle driven by a companion. Labao, a contractor and owner of the Kirskat Venture construction firm, has denied involvement in the killing. He is running for mayor of Mambusao under the National Unity Party, which is allied with the United Nationalist Alliance, against Martinez’s daughter, Sharon Martelino, who is running under the Liberal Party