Philippines city mayor who shamed drug suspects shot dead
Manila, July 2 : A controversial provincial city mayor in the Philippines known for parading drug suspects in public was shot dead during a flag-raising ceremony on Monday.
Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili was declared dead on arrival at a hospital from a single bullet wound to the chest, sustained as he and civil servants sang the national anthem during a ceremony in city hall in Batangas province southwest of Manila.
Police Superintendent Renato Mercado told CNN that a video showed scenes of panic seconds after the shot was fired. Halili was seen standing in a line with government employees as the flag was raised. Suddenly, a single shot rang out followed by screams and chaos.
The mayor's security returned fire, according to state media Philippines News Agency (PNA), causing panic as government officials and staff ran for cover. The police official said Halili was killed by a sniper.
Another investigator told a radio station that a high-powered rifle was used in the attack.
The mayor had gained prominence for implementing a "walk of shame" for drug suspects in 2016 where he paraded them for people to see and then in 2017 when he was linked by the government to illegal drugs.
Gerry Laresma, the government employee who shot the video, told PNA that Halili had received death threats because of his strong anti-crime push.
"We are shocked, we are saddened," Vice Mayor Jhoanna Villamor, who was standing next to Halili, told radio station DZBB after the shooting.
Philippines National Police Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said a regional special task group had been convened to investigate the killing and that the suspect parades were being considered as a motive.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque condemned the killing, saying that Halili was an ally of Rodrigo Duterte and that justice would be served.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
