The victim was identified as Alfonso “Jun” Buot Jr., 57, a resident of the said place.
Boot died instantly after sustaining gunshot wound on his left neck.
The two motorcycle-riding assassins have not yet been identified.
The gunman was reportedly wearing a gray short pants.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Glenn Hife, chief of Balamban Police Station, the incident was captured on video by a CCTV camera from a nearby house.
However, the gunman’s face could not be easily recognized because he was wearing a helmet and was facing sideways.
Hife said the victim was riding a motorcycle to get water spinach (tangkong) to feed his rabbits when he was shot by the gunman.
He believed that the perpetrators might have monitored the vicitim’s morning routine prior to the assault.
The highest police official of Balamban said they were searching for additional CCTV cameras nearby that might have captured the incident more clearly.
The victim’s wife, Baliwagan Barangay Councilor Anna Marie Buot, claimed that she was not aware of any threats made against her husband.
But Anna Marie said her husband had informed her that he intended to run for barangay captain in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Election this coming October.
Hife said they are investigating every angle to determine the cause of the incident, including personal grudge and politics.
Buot’s younger sister Elizabeth said her brother was a good man.
She claimed that the victim asked her last week to support his candidacy.
Buot Jr. was arrested in 2019 by the operatives of Provincial Intelligence Units of the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) by virtue of a search warrant for illegal possession of firearm.
His wife took over after he finished his three terms as barangay councilor in 2018.
Anna Marie and her children are asking for justice for her husband’s murder.
Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Ace Pelare, spokesperson of Police Regional Office (PRO 7) Director Brigadier General Anthony Aberin, said the latter had ordered CCPO Director Police Colonel Rommel Ochave to broaden the scope of their investigation into the case.
Pelare alleged that the victim was a former police asset. (GPL, TPT)