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BEFORE being assassinated by an as yet unidentified gunman on the night of Friday, January 1, 2021, businessman Rubén Feliciano was already known to Cebuanos for his controversial personality and his enmity with the mayor of San Fernando, Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya.
When Feliciano arrived in Cebu from his hometown of Zamboanga, he worked with a private port developer to launch a multi-million dollar international port project in Barangay Sangat, San Fernando. He became president of First Sangat SF International Port Corp.
In 2015, Feliciano sued his former business partners for allegedly preventing him from continuing with the project.
She also sued Reluya, who was serving her first term as mayor, and her late husband, the then president of the Barangay Council Association (ABC) Ricardo “Nonoy” Reluya, before the Visayas Ombudsman’s Office.
The mayor had issued an executive order suspending the project until Feliciano could resolve the issues raised against him by his business partners and other sectors affected by the project.
During the 2019 midterm elections, Feliciano ran for mayor against Reluya on a platform against corruption and narcopolitics.
A Facebook account in her name posted a “murder list” that linked several politicians in San Fernando, including Reluya and her husband, to illegal drug trafficking.
Also on the “kill list” were former ABC president Johnny Arriesgado and later city councilors Reneboy Dacalos, Edwin Villaver and Alfonso Donaire.
In January 2019, the mayor and her husband were ambushed by gunmen in Barangay Linao, city of Talisay.
The mayor and her two bodyguards survived, but her husband and two others did not survive.
That same month, Dacalos and Arriesgado were shot dead by unidentified assailants. On February 23 of that same year, Donaire was assassinated inside his parents’ home in Zamboanga del Sur.
Feliciano denied being involved in the murders, but admitted to having threatened to kill them if they proceeded with their respective candidacies.
Just before the May 2019 elections, Feliciano became embroiled in another controversy when four of his supporters were accused of harassing then-aspiring councilwoman Joy Resogento in Barangay Bugho.
He also denied any involvement in the incident.
After losing the mayoral race, Feliciano disappeared from the limelight only to reemerge as the victim of a drive-by shooting Friday night. (WBS, JKV)
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