Zambales vice-gov candidate shot dead

Tuesday, 09 March 2010 12:07 PM Mikhaela De Leon

Violence gripped the provincial election scene as a vice-gubernatorial candidate in Zambales was killed inside his own home by two unidentified men on Sunday morning.

45-year-old Willie Villoria was having coffee with his wife inside their house in Barangay Mabanglit in Cabangan, Zambales at around 10:30 a.m. when two armed men barged into their door and fired successive shots at him. Villoria's wife, who witnessed her husband's murder, fainted immediately after.

The suspects were armed with a .45 caliber pistol and a .38 caliber revolver. The victim died instantly, sustaining multiple gunshot wounds on his head and body.

After the assault, the suspects raided the house and took a bag which contained the victim's campaign funds amounting to P500,000.

Villoria was running for Vice-Governor under the Alpha Omega 9K Party. The official campaign period for local and provincial candidates starts on March 26.

The police, however, said that the crime was not elections-related.

“Definitely this death is not due to the elections,” said Zambales police director Senior Supt. Rafael Santiago. According to initial investigation, the killing was likely due to a conflict on a mining-related business transaction in which the victim was involved.

Santiago said that in November last year, Villoria filed a case for frustrated murder after a person, to whom he had sold his rights to a mining concession, tried to kill him. He was also said to have received death threats even before he announced his candidacy for the May 10 polls.

The police are also looking into robbery as another possible motive.

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