DILG orders probe on killing of Los Baños mayor

“I directed the PNP to identify and go after the perpetrators,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said in a media interview on Friday. (PNA file photo)

MANILA – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to look into the killing of Mayor Ceasar Perez of Los Baños town in Laguna on Thursday night.

“I directed the PNP to identify and go after the perpetrators,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said in a media interview on Friday.

Based on a police report, Perez was in an open lounge behind the municipal hall in Barangay Baybayin when he was shot by unidentified assailants around 8:45 p.m.

The mayor was taken to the HealthServ Medical Center where he died shortly before 10 p.m.

Perez also previously served as a vice governor of Laguna.

Meanwhile, PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana said investigators are now working on getting pieces of evidence and identifying the mastermind and the perpetrators behind the incident.

“We have not obtained any information yet as regards the identity of persons responsible for the death of Mayor Perez. There are no persons of interest either,” Usana said.

The PNP has also formed a special investigation task group (SITG) on the killing of Perez, to be led by Laguna Police deputy provincial director for operations, Lt. Col. Jesson Bombasi.