CRIME SCENE A police officer documents the site of the shooting at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, which resulted in the deaths of Mayor Ukol Talumpa and his wife (inset from Facebook), and two others. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines鈥擲lain Mayor Ukol Talumpa was a political rival of former Mayor Wilson Nandang and one of the causes of their dispute was illegal drugs, a police official said on Friday.
鈥淭he drugs issue (usaping droga) was one of the reasons behind their quarrel,鈥� Chief Insp. Ariel Huesca, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao regional police office, told the Inquirer.
Zamboanga del Sur Gov. Antonio Cerilles, an ally of Talumpa, wondered how the shooting could occur in a supposedly secured government facility such as Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
鈥淗e was shot by a person in a police uniform at Naia Terminal 3,鈥� Cerilles said by phone.
鈥淣aia should be more strict in checking the people coming in and out. Imagine the killer was in a police uniform,鈥� he said.
He said Talumpa had only one enemy in Zamboanga del Sur and it was Nandang. Talumpa defeated Nandang in the last local elections.
In a previous interview with the Inquirer, Talumpa called on the government to look deeper into the problem of illegal drugs in his hometown of Labangon, a fourth-class municipality with a population of 2,800.
鈥淯kol survived many attempts on his life. He was ambushed in Manila. He missed a bomb planted under his car in Pagadian City and he was also ambushed in his hometown,鈥� Cerilles said.
On Nov. 2, 2010,聽 Talumpa, then vice mayor of Labangan, survived an assassination attempt on Leon Guinto Street in Manila.
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