TUDELA, MISOC: This was how Mayor Estela “Cha-cha” Obut described herself at present after she dispelled the report that came out Wednesday, last week that said that she was ambushed and is in critical condition.
“Thank God I’m very much alive. It’s not true that I was the one being ambushed. What happened was just a misleading and confusing information,” she texted PANGUIL BAY MONITOR.
What really happened was a shooting incident involving Mayor Rogelio Baquerfo Sr. of Tudela Island, Cebu whose aide, identified as Celso Quizon, was shot in the face by an unidentified assassin.
Baquerfo was attending a graduation ceremony in Brgy. Puertobello last Monday evening and was on the way to his van with Quizon when the incident happened.
At about the same time, Obut was in Manila attending a seminar.
The false report identifying the lady mayor as the victim was rectified a day after the incident in DxSY-AM when “Lanog” anchorman Gregorio Libor Jr. interviewed a staff from the mayor’s office.
Meanwhile, the Cebu Provincial Police Office said they have already identified the suspect in the shooting but they wont name him for now.
“I hope you can help emlighten the people especially the Tudelanhon about the news. Thank you very much,” the 29-year old mayor requested this paper to set the report right.
Obut is the second child of the late Mayor Nilo Obut, who died April 25, 2007 of cardiopulmonary arrest, days before the midterm elections.
He was into his third and last term and his hectic campaign sortie was believed to have taken its toll on him.
Known for his smiling and mild disposition, the 66-year old mayor is perhaps the only mayor in Misamis Occidental and in the country who travels and attends seminars and conference with only his driver as his companion and without bodyguards.
Estela, who formerly works as administrative aide to Gov. Loreto Ocampos, ran in lieu of her father for the mayoralty post and subsequently won. To pass away this young is not yet on her mind, she jokes, “Magminyo pa pod ko.” MICHAEL MEDINA