BAGUIO CITY – Three more persons were killed last week while another two were injured in latest poll-related violence in northern Luzon even as a mayor Ilocos Norte who is again running for the same post this May was tagged as the brains in the slay of her political foe in September last year.
Latest case was in Abra wherein a driver of a mayoral bet was beaten up and shot dead Thursday allegedly by supporters of a rival candidate during a campaign sortie in the capital town of Bangued.
The victim, Mario Acena, sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the head and body and died on the spot.
Chief Supt. Villamor Bumanlag, Cordillera police director, said Acena became the first casualty of the elections in Abra, tagged “killing fields” in the region in past political exercises.
Twenty-eight people were killed in Abra in the 2007 local elections.
Bumanlag said Acena was a driver of Ryan Luna, who is challenging incumbent Bangued Mayor Dominic Valera in the May 10 polls.
Luna, son of Abra Rep. Cecille Luna, survived an ambush try in Penarubia town last April 11, but four of his supporters were wounded.
Initial police reports said the younger Luna was conducting a house-to-house campaign in Barangay Cosili West in Bangued while Acena and a certain Jimmy were doing the rounds on board a “Weapon” campaign vehicle.
At about 8 a.m., the Weapon vehicle got entangled with the four-vehicle convoy of Mayor Valera, who was also campaigning in the area, and a heated argument ensued, according to reports reaching Bumanlag.
According to witnesses, Valera’s supporters allegedly ganged up on Acena and Jimmy, who both fought back using their bare hands. Jimmy managed to escape.
The outnumbered Acena ran under their vehicle and pleaded for his life when shots rang out, police quoted witnesses as saying.
Valera’s supporters then reportedly fled on foot after allegedly depositing firearms in different houses.
Responding policemen recovered two firearms in the three vehicles of Valera’s group abandoned at the crime scene.
Police also took custody of six other firearms, including a machinegun, which were surrendered by local residents.
Mayor Valera belied the younger Luna’s allegation that he was the one who shot Acena, saying he was ready to undergo paraffin test to prove this.
He admitted though that a shooting ensued when Acena and motorcycle-riding men allegedly fired guns.
Bumanlag said they are now determining which of the two rival groups started the fray.
He said police investigators were gathering statements of witnesses, who all belong to Valera’s camp.
“The group of Luna has yet to surface and give their side on the incident. We are waiting for their (Luna’s) side before filing appropriate charges against the culprits,” Bumanlag said. .
Bumanlag said Acena became the second supporter of Luna to be shot in a span of two days.
Last Wednesday night April 28, Luna’s supporter Elmer Velasco was shot and wounded while cooking food at a wedding reception in Sitio Pagaway, Barangay Calot, also in Bangued. Velasco sustained four gunshot wounds.
Rep. Luna called on her and Ryan’s supporters not to take retaliatory action against the Valeras to preserve peace and order in the province.
Because of Acena’s killing, Bumanlag intensified police visibility and checkpoint operations in 19 “areas of concern” in Abra.
“It is unfortunate that this incident happened a day after I (deployed) at least 200 policemen in the province to safeguard the coming polls,” he said.
Bumanlag said no policemen were deployed in the crime scene because it was near Bangued town and that the Cordillera police was mainly focused on the 19 poll hot spots.
In Naguillan, La Union, a civilian volunteer was killed while two unidentified others were seriously wounded when the supporters of a mayoralty candidate engaged in a shootout with still unidentified armed individuals in Barangay Angin here Tuesday night.
A report from the Naguilian municipal police station only identified the fatality as a certain Donato, a civilian volunteer of Barangay Akiwas, while the two wounded individuals who are confined at the Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center in San Fernando City, La Union remain unidentified.
Initial police investigation showed the convoy of a mayoralty candidate reportedly arrived in Barangay Angin and one of the occupants of their vehicle inquired from village watchman Joseph Abenes on the location of their village chieftain.
However, a blue-green van with alleged suspicious-looking individuals suddenly arrived in the area prompting the candidate’s bodyguards to confront the occupants.
Because of such confrontation, a five-minute firefight ensued between the mayoralty bet’s aides and the occupants of the van before the vehicle sped off towards the town proper.
In Pamplona, Cagayan, a village chief vying for a town council seat was shot dead while reportedly on his way to a campaign meeting Tuesday, police said.
Chief Supt. Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley police director, said Rene de la Cruz, 52, chairman of Barangay Bidduang and sustained three gunshot wounds in the abdomen.
De la Cruz was the second Cagayan barangay official shot dead in a week.
In Ilocos Norte, a mayor of this province who is again running for the same post this May was tagged as the brains in the slay of her political foe in September last year.
Alleged hired killer Noel Aurellano, nabbed last week in Isabela in connection with the killing of Ilocos Norte Electric Coop. Board President Lorenzo Rey Ruiz, told investigators Dingras Mayor Marineth Gamboa paid them P800,000 to do the job.
He said 16 other personalities are on their hit list. Aurellano confirmed what authorities found from the original lair of the “hitman” all in Ilocos Norte with the list written on a paper.
The personalities on the “hit list” were not released by authorities due to security reasons.
Aurellano reportedly admitted it was former INEC employee Jonathan Bagamaspad, a relative of Gamboa, who directly talked to him about the assassination.
Aurellano admitted to authorities he was the driver of one of the motorcycles used when they barged in the INEC compound in Currimao town, Ilocos Norte to kill Ruiz.
Earlier, charges against Gamboa were dropped by state prosecutors in connection with the death of a Nacionalista Party councilor bet after armed men fired upon the vehicle she was riding along with other NP bets on Dec. 28, last year.
Killed in the Dec. 28 ambush was barangay captain Jo-en Caniete-Diego of Lanas, Dingras, an NP bet for Dingras councilor.
Four others including re-electionist board member Robert Castro were seriously wounded during the incident.
No comments:
Post a Comment