Police are looking at politics and illegal drugs as possible motives behind the gun attack against the former mayor of Alburquerque town and his companions which included noted drug personality Jenelyn Matura who was the ambush’s lone fatality, said the city’s police chief Lt. Col. Mary Peralta.
“May mga tintingnan kami na pwedeng e-consider dito like yung sa political side, or sa business side at itong sa kay Jenelyn ay sa illegal drugs kasi siya ay na-involve sa illegal drug trade,” said Peralta.
The city’s top cop however noted that they have yet to establish who the actual target was during the fatal ambush which led to the death of Matura who was driving the sports utility vehicle (SUV) of former Alburquerque mayor Elpren Charles Tungol.
On Tuesday afternoon, Matura, Tungol and one other were travelling near the Dampas Catholic Cemetery in Barangay Dampas when they were blocked by two men on board a motorcycle who then shot at the driver’s side of the former mayor’s SUV.
Peralta said that Tungol who was at the backseat during the ambush admitted that he was the one who usually drove the SUV but asked Matura to drive that time as his arthritis symptoms flared up.
The windows of Tungol’s Toyota Fortuner were also noted to have been darkly tinted making it difficult to see who was driving it.
“Sabi ni [former] mayor na maaring siya ang [target]…according sakanya, hindi talaga siya makikita sa sasakyan. Ako din mismo tiningnan ko yung sasakyan, heavily tinted talaga siya kaya di mo makikita kung sino nagddrive kung lalaki o babae ba,” she said.
Tungol was on his way to visit his father at a hospital in Tagbilaran City during the attack.
He told authorities that he was with Matura to discuss her interest in engaging in the chicken dressing business.
The Tungols own a poultry dressing plant in Alburquerque which reportedly employed Matura’s boyfriend before.
Meanwhile, Staff Sgt. Roberto Dapat, Jr. of the Dauis Police Station said that Matura who was a resident of Barangay Bingag, Dauis was under surveillance for continued involvement in the illegal drug trade.
Matura was among those caught in a buy-bust operation against suspected big-time drug dealer Lelit Dajao who was allegedly caught in possession of shabu worth P13 million in Tagbilaran City last May.
Matura was later identified only as Dajao’s accomplice and was allowed to post bail.
According to Dapat, Matura’s brother Rene and former boyfriend Gregorio Arcena have also been noted to be drug personalities.
Rene was able to escape during a raid earlier this year while Arcena was arrested in a buy-bust operation last March.
“Ka live-in partner pud ani niya tong gibuy-bust namo didto pud sa Bingag na dinagko pud,” Dapat said.
Dapat noted that Matura had not reported any threat against her life prior to her death. (A. Doydora)