Polomolok City, South Cotabato Mayor Bernie Palencia offered a PHP500,000 reward to anyone who could provide information on the whereabouts of the perpetrators of the March 17 attack on his executive assistant.
According to Palencia, he could have been the target of the two gunmen who shot his aide, Rhyolite Agregado Balili, 49, a former town councilor, at close range.
Balili was driving his car and was about to enter the town hall grounds in Barangay Poblacion when he was shot by two gunmen on motorcycles.
Polomolok Police Chief Lt. Col. Joseph Forro III said that he suffered gunshot wounds throughout his body.
Moreover, Forro, the victim, is still being treated in an undisclosed hospital in neighboring General Santos City.
The mayor suggested that the shooting of Balili was politically motivated.
Also, Palencia mentioned that he received information saying that two men were seen taking videos of him during the opening program for the Women's Month Celebration while posing as roasted peanut vendors. Forro said that no one claimed responsibility for the attack and that security measures are in place to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Meanwhile, three members of the Civil Security Unit of Polomolok's local government unit were separately killed by still unknown operatives last January.
