Justice Acting Secretary Agnes VST Devanadera condemned today the killing of David Emralino, former Candelaria, Quezon mayor and ordered the NBI to join the PNP in tracking down the two killers who also wounded two bodyguards of the ex-mayor.

Devanadera ordered an exhaustive investigation, assuring witness protection to any witness in the shooting of Emralino stressing that “no stone will be left unturned until the perpetrators are arrested and brought before the bar of justice,” the acting secretary said.

The former mayor and his two men were ambushed while standing near the guardhouse inside the compound of St. Peter the Baptist Church just across the municipal and police station in Candelaria at around 10:00 a.m.

Initial police investigation showed that the victims including two of the body guards who are in serious condition at the hospital, were shot at close range with 45 cal. pistol and armalite rifle. The gunmen, who suddenly appeared from nowhere and shot the victims in rapid fire, were believed to have joined the rush of church goers running out of the compound in panic. Twenty-three (23) empty shells and three (3) bullets were recovered at the crime scene.

Emralino, an ex-president of a Mayors League in Quezon, was about to present awards to members of the Knights of Columbus inside the church and was waiting for the mass to end when the shooting took place. Weeks before the assassination, he was strongly criticizing the proliferation of drug traffickers in Quezon specifically in Candelaria. He served three terms as mayor after which he ran for governor unsuccessful. He regained the mayoral post in 2001 and 2004 but lost to his former vice mayor in 2007.