Councilor killed in Abra; violence rises

BANGUED, Abra – Assassins in the province have become bolder with their latest victim, 65-year-old Tineg town councilor Pedro Inon who was shot dead night of May 19 in his boarding house here at Barangay Calaba.

A septuagenarian lawyer and a security guard were also recently killed inside their own turfs.

Criminal defense lawyer Demetrio Villamor Pre, 75, was gunned down in his house-cum-law office in Barangay Bone 4, Bangued town.

That same day, and just a few steps away from Pre’s house, 32-year-old security guard Efren Bersalona was slain in the Bangued town hall where he was on duty.

The Bangued town hall is a few meters away from the provincial capitol building where President Arroyo met with National Security Council and Cordillera leaders a week before the killings. Both murders remain unsolved.

Inon, the third ranking board member of hinterland Tineg town, was resting in his boarding house when he was killed night of May 19.

Inon was a known political ally of Tineg Mayor Edwin Crisologo, who in turn, was associated with former governor Vicente Valera.