Killers’ bike was marked ‘Duterte’

A village chair from Caloocan City was killed Saturday morning while driving in Quezon City, in an ambush carried out by two men who rode a motorbike with a license plate that read “‘Duterte,” the police said.

The police said Edres Domato, the top official of Barangay Tala, Caloocan, died inside his black Toyota Fortuner after being shot by the assailants around 7:50 a.m. along Quirino Highway, near the La Mesa dam in Barangay Pasong Putik, Fairview.

According to Quezon City Police District deputy director for operations, Senior Supt. Joselito Esquivel Jr., the attackers were on a Rusi motorcycle with a license plate marked “Duterte.”

Domato ran for city councilor but lost in the May 9 elections under the Nationalist People’s Coalition ticket of former Mayor Enrico Echiverri.

Senior Supt. Bartolome Bustamante, the Caloocan police chief, said Domato’s death may not be election related. He recalled that the Caloocan city council earlier investigated Domato for his supposed “negligence” in curbing drug activities in his area.

“Several raids by the National Bureau of Investigation, CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group), Caloocan police and Northern Police District had been conducted in Domato’s barangay, but drug activities still continued. It was very unfortunate he was neutralized through extralegal means,” Bustamante, in a text message sent to Inquirer. –Erika Sauler and Jodee A. Agoncillo