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City
Mayor Dan Lim laughed off the allegations of a slay plot against
his rival former city mayor Joe Torralba as nothing but "a
bad script."
"When
there is an attempt on your life, the first thing you do to
is call the police station. Only a desperate politician will
go the newspapers and place a one-page advertisement,"
Mayor Lim said.
Saying
he does not want to dignify the accusation which he described
as "a mere concoction," Lim dared Bohol PNP provincial
director Senior Supt. Edgardo Ingking and designated temporary
city police chief Supt. Abner Catalla, to step into the matter
and interrogate the "confessed witness" and "interpreter"
to the negotiation that took place to engage the services
of a gun for hire in Mindanao.
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"This
is a welcome development that provides a comic relief
to the campaign," the mayor added.
He
added that he would like to have a copy of the alleged
confession so that he can send this to the Commission
on Elections (Comelec) to support his request to place
the city under Comelec control.
A
press statement released by the Lim-Montes camp yesterday
called the assassination plot as a "bad script"
saying that since Torralba is well connected with the
Bohol PNP chief, SSupt. Ingking, he could have simply
sought assistance on the matter.
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This
only proves, the group said, that nobody is really planning
to kill Torralba and that the real intent of the one-page
paid advertisement was to malign the ongoing campaign and
impugn the incumbent mayor.
The
press statement said, that the simultaneous misinformation
about the utilization of the city's intelligence fund and
the murder plot indicates a malicious intent on the part of
Torralba and his supporters.
INTERPRETER'S
AFFIDAVIT
A
sworn statement executed by one Ali Inolaca Hassan, resident
of Marantao, Lanao del Sur and the self-confessed interpreter
to the negotiation that took place between a certain Commander
Gagamba and three alleged intermediaries to contract a gun
for hire, divulged that that the target of the murder plot
is a certain Mayor Torralba of Tagbilaran, Bohol.
According
to Hassan, the assassination would be made to look like a
vehicular accident so as not to be linked to politics.
The
affidavit revealed that the gun-for-hire contractors wanted
only two would-be assassins but Commander Gagamba recommended
three men. The three were identified in the affidavit as Mangola
Alip alias Mac or Abet, who is reportedly the triggerman in
the assassination of Lanao del Norte Gov. Abalos, Arnel Salonga
alias Asiong Fireman and Faisal Ombra Sarip alias Sarip.
The
contract price was said to be P300,000 plus a mobilization
and firearms refund of P50,000.
Hassan,
however, said that "the contract was not closed"
as the three gun-for-hire contractors promised to come back.
According
to Hassan, in his affidavit, he informed Torralba about the
plan to murder him in order to protect Muslims here in Tagbilaran
who might be affected when fellow Muslims would be identified
as the assassins.
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