The mayor of Pamplona, Negros Oriental on Monday said she has an idea on who masterminded the assassination of her husband, Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, right inside their compound last Saturday.

• Negros Oriental Gov. Degamo killed in armed attack at home

"Yes, pareho tayo nang iniisip. This man is very known in the country today," Mayor Janice Degamo said in an interview with Kabayan Noli de Castro.

Degamo said she was inside their house while her husband and other department heads were entertaining guests when armed men arrived at the compound last Saturday, March 4.

She said the guard who was controlling the gate heard a knock and peeked outside and saw the armed men. She said the guard said he had to ask permission from the governor if they would be allowed inside since there were other groups who were also waiting for an audience. Under their security protocols, armed guests had to leave their firearms before they would be allowed inside the governor's compound.

Instead of waiting, one of the armed men pushed the gate open allowing the others to come in.

"Kasi hindi niya pinapatuloy sila kaso tinulak ang door para pumasok sila,. They forced themselves in kasi binuksan nang kaunti, tinignn kung sino yung nagna-knock," she told ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

"Parang very fast yung pangyayari. Lahat nangyari in 41 seconds lang (It all happened very fast, it was over in 41 seconds)."

"I feel bad kasi parang naglapse, may security lapse na nangyari doon."

She said one of their realizations is that the gate for the compound was too near the area where the governor met with guests.

Degamo and eight other people died on Saturday after at least six gunmen attacked Degamo's home in Pamplona municipality while he was meeting with his constituents.

She said that before the attack, they had already received word that there were threats against the governor's life. She described her husband as a very peaceful man who never resorted to violence.

"Negros Oriental is a very peaceful community tapos biglang ganito...Parang ang sama na talaga. We are afraid of becoming another Mindanao," she said.

Saturday's violence came more than two weeks since the Supreme Court upheld the Commission on Elections' resolution recognizing Degamo as the winner of the 2022 Negros Oriental gubernatorial race.

The high court junked former Gov. Pryde Henry Teves' petition against the poll body on the gubernatorial dispute that resulted in a standoff at the Negros Oriental provincial capitol in Dumaguete City last October.

Degamo had been in power as Negros Oriental's chief executive for more than a decade, having first assumed office in 2011 following the successive deaths of former governors Emilio Macias II and Agustin Perdices.

PLt. Col. Gerard Pelare, Special Investigation Task Group Degamo spokesman, earlier announced the arrests of 3 suspects in the Degamo killing and the death of a fourth suspect. Three of the suspects are ex-soldiers, according to the Philippine Army.

• 3 suspects in Negros Oriental Gov. Degamo slay arrested: PNP
• Suspect in Degamo slay killed in shootout with police

Degamo said one of the suspects previously worked as a congressman's security aide but was fired for using illegal drugs.