A former police chief of Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro and a municipal employee were meted out life sentence for the killing a barangay chairman in 2001.

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court, in its decision, ordered SPO3 Exequiel Mercene and Danny Santos to pay the family of the victim, Mario Montalbo, P125,000 in civil indemnity.

Judge Bayani Vargas said he found the two guilty of murdering Montalbo on September 22, 2001.

The court gave weight to the testimony of an eyewitness who was with Montalbo on board a motorcycle when their path was suddenly blocked by Mercene and Santos in Barangay Aplaya.

Montalbo was then dragged near a health center where he was hit on the head with a gun and shot to dead.

Gripped by fear, the eyewitness fled and heard two more gun shots as he was running away.

While at a friend’s house where he hid, the witness later learned that Montalbo had succumbed to gunshot wounds.