Mayor in spa scandal ambushed

WJG · Oct 25, 2019, 4:03 PM

Navarro was among the 82 politicians in President Rodrigo Duterte’s narcolist announced in March 2016. #MayorDavidNavarro #narcolist

Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro at the Cebu City Police Station 2 on Thursday. (Vash Leng)

Clarin, Misamis Occidental mayor David Navarro was killed in an ambush Friday afternoon while Cebu City police officers were bringing him to the prosecutor’s office to answer charges of mauling a massage parlor attendant and acts of lasciviousness against a masseuse.

A patrol car carrying Navarro and two police escorts was along M. Velez Street in Barangay Guadalupe around 2 p.m. when four masked men armed with high powered guns suddenly came out of a white van behind them and opened fire at the mayor, according to reports citing an account of a witness.

Navarro, who had just attended a seminar in the city Wednesday, was killed on the spot.

The police escorts did not notice the white van and were caught by surprise by the ambush, said Police Major Eduard Sanchez of the Abellana Police Station, where Navarro was detained Thursday.

Reports also quoted Sanchez as saying that four civilians and one policeman were injured during the ambush.

Masseur John Dueñas and a masseuse of Banyan Tree Spa filed complaints of physical injury and acts of lasciviousness against Navarro with the said police station Wednesday night after the mayor, who was apparently drunk, caused a scene there.

Footage from a CCTV camera of the massage parlor saw Navarro mauling Dueñas after he told the mayor that no masseuse were available to serve him. When a masseuse was provided to Navarro, he allegedly demanded that she perform lewd acts.

Before Navarro could board a flight at the Mactan Cebu International Airport Thursday afternoon, he was arrested and detained at the police station where his mugshot was also taken. The following day, officers took him to the prosecutor’s office for inquest proceeding.

Navarro was among the 82 politicians in President Rodrigo Duterte’s narco list announced in 2016.