Whether it was a military operations or a love triangle, police probers are entertaining suspicion on the later as they uncover lead after lead arising from the murder of militant leader Mario “Ka Mayong Auxilio last June 15 in B-Unido town. The theory of a military hit was hyped by militant organizations on top of allegations that the suspect is a member of an anti-community organization Alimaong or Holy Warrior.
However, Alimaong was reported to have disowned the assailant identified as Hilario “Larry” Diola as one of their own as soon as he was found to be the suspect of the murder. THE police and the fact-finding team that investigated the June 15 killing of Bayan Muna Secretary General Mario “Mayong” Auxilio are not ruling out a love triangle as they pieced the evidence leading to the slay. While Diola who was considered the “ex-best friend” ofb Ka Mayong has been positively identified as the triggerman who planted a bullet in his chest, circumstances surrounding the crime have not lifted the cloud of doubt hovering over the incident.
Romeo Teruel, head of the fact-finding team that the Provincial Peace and Order Council chaired by Gov. Erico Aumentado deploys to any point in Bohol to investigate insurgency-related incidents that tend to break peace and order voiced this angle during Friday's radio program The Governor Reports aired live over dyRD, dyZD and dyTR. He said at least two witnesses tagged Diola as the perpetrator but the motive is difficult to establish given the many information that are coming in to the investigation by Bayan Muna, the Philippine National Police and the PPOC Fact Finding Team.
The PNP is advancing personal grudges as the motive but Bayan Muna discounts this, saying that Diola and Auxilio were good friends and did not have any disagreement before the fatal shooting. Auxilio, they claim, even slept at Diola's house. Instead, they said Auxilio was killed because he has become an “Enemy of the State” for organizing the farmers and fisher folks for genuine agrarian reform, and more so because the perpetrator was a member of the Alimaong, an anti-communist group. But the PPOC fact-finding team, however, is still pursuing the angle of personal grudge, even going further to the possible love angle because of the statements of Lilibeth, Diola's wife.
Lilibeth claimed that she and Evelyn were not in good terms because she would not allow her husband to go to the videoke bar where Evelyn is working. She said Evelyn is a woman who easily befriends and is overly close to men, and that Auxilio and Evelyn were sweethearts. She said she did not allow her husband to go to the videoke bar anymore because Evelyn had earlier attempted to sit on his lap. Earlier, Bayan Muna claimed that Diola is an asset of the 15 th Infantry Battalion. But this, as well as his alleged Alimaong membership, could not be established. Teruel said investigation is a painstaking job. But the PPOC fact-finding team he leads is determined to ferret out the truth because that is what Aumentado has tasked them to do. (With reports from June Blanco & Sen Guingguing)
