Trader gunned down outside Batangas repair shop

MANILA, Philippines - A businessman was shot dead outside an auto-repair shop in Lemery town in Batangas province Thursday morning, the local police said. The Lemery municipal police told GMANews.TV by phone that the fatality was identified as Edwin Ibigin, a 35-year-old resident of Barangay (village) Apacayay who sells canvass in Mindanao. Initial investigation showed that Ibigin, accompanied by friend Melenio de Roxas, stopped by at an auto-repair shop in Barangay Palanas to have his owner-type jeepney’s horn fixed at about 9 a.m. While Ibigin was texting outside the shop, one of his two attackers approached him and shot him using a cal-45 pistol. The victim died on the spot. The gunman rushed to a Honda Wave motorcycle, parked some 20 meters from the crime scene and where his accomplice was waiting. The two assailants fled toward Taal town. "Wala pa kaming motibo. Nakausap na namin ang mga kamag-anak at pati asawa. Pero wala sila lahat masabi (We have yet to determine a motive. We already spoke with the victim's relatives and his wife but they were as clueless)," Police Officer 1 Mark Ortiz said. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV