THE manhunt operation against the persons involved in the ambush of General Tinio, Nueva Ecija Mayor Ferdinand Bote has been elevated to the regional level, said Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Luzon Director Amador Corpus.
Corpus said he already ordered the intensified conduct of Special Investigation Task Group "FP Bote" to magnify the gathering of evidence and establish possible motives in the killing.
"We strongly condemn the killing of Mayor Bote and we are now exhausting all efforts and we are exerting all means to get to the bottom of this unfortunate incident and arrest the perpetrators who took away the life of Mayor Bote," he said.
While all cases brought to police authorities are given importance, Corpus admitted that Bote's case is treated as top priority, since he is an elected official, particularly a town's chief executive.
"The Special Investigation Task Group FP Bote was already elevated to the regional level to engage all authorities in the region in the gathering of evidences that can lead to possible evidences linking to the suspects," he said.
Corpus also asked the public's help and support, especially for potential eyewitnesses to come forward and provide information that is possibly related to the crime, including suspicious activities they noticed before the incident.
But Corpus said information released to public will only be limited while sensitive matters are being investigated.
On July 3, Bote was shot dead by still unidentified men while he was on board his personal sports utility vehicle on the way out of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) office in Cabanatuan City.
The incident was caught on a closed circuit television camera, which showed that two men dressed in black and onboard a motorcycle flagged down Bote's vehicle around 4:30 p.m. and fired into the vehicle using a short firearm.
Bote was declared dead on arrival at the MV Gallego Hospital in Cabanatuan City. He sustained 18 gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body. His driver was unscathed.