Police security is being provided to the Mondia family who are bringing the remains of slain former Pulupandan Mayor Luis Mondia Jr. from Iloilo to Bacolod City this afternoon, Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz, WV police operations chief, said yesterday.

De la Paz said the Mondia family informed him that the remains of the former mayor will lie in state at the Rolling Hills Memorial Chapels in Bacolod City instead of Pulupandan, and that he will be buried at the Sanctuario de Bacolod in Barangay Alijis on Feb. 28.

The police will provide security to the Mondia family throughout the wake and funeral, and until necessary, he said.

De la Paz and Senior Supt, Manuel Felix, Negros Occidental police director, said the decision of the Mondia family not to hold the wake in Pulupandan will ease tension in this emotional time for the followers of the former mayor.

The Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office will provide security when the body arrives at the Bacolod pier this afternoon, and at the wake, Felix also said.

Mondia, 55, was slain near the Jaro Cathedral in Iloilo on Feb. 17 just after he, his wife Evelinda and his 7-year-old granddaughter had attended the Ash Wednesday mass.

An assassin armed with a .45 caliber pistol shot Mondia in the left shoulder and the nape with the bullet exciting through his mouth, the police said. Another man who also drew his gun was waiting on a motorcycle that was the assassin’s get away vehicle, de la Paz said.

The police are still searching for two guns-for-hire from Western Visayas identified through facial sketches based on descriptions of witnesses, de la Paz said.

He said one of the two suspects has a pending warrant of arrest for a previous crime.

Members of the Mondia family believe the killing was politically motivated.

The former mayor was running for the same position in Pulupandan against incumbent Magdaleno Peña.

His death has left Peña without an opponent.

The Special Investigation Task Group Mondia is set to meet today to assess the progress of their investigation into the killing, de la Paz said.*CPG

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