CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna – A police officer detailed as a security escort of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno was shot dead by a lone gunman in San Pablo City early yesterday.
Police Officer 2 Jerry Briones died while being treated at the Pagamutang Panlalawigan ng Laguna for several gunshot wounds.
Briones was able to shoot back and hit the gunman, according to witnesses. Police identified the suspect as Norlito Ligon, who was later traced by responding policemen at the San Pablo Medical Center, where he was being treated for a gunshot wound in the leg.
Police said Briones was waiting for a Manila-bound bus along Maharlika Highway on his way to report for work when he was approached by Ligon, who shot him several times.
Briones was able to shoot back, hitting Ligon in the leg before calling out for help through his cellular phone.
Police said they are investigating Ligon on his motive for shooting Briones.
Interior and Local Government Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Brian Raymund Yamsuan said the killing of Briones could have been politically-motivated because of the victim’s job as driver-bodyguard to Puno.
Yamsuan said Briones had been Puno’s personal driver and bodyguard since 2001.
“Secretary Puno is deeply saddened by this tragedy,” Yamsuan said. “He has directed Laguna provincial director Senior Superintendent Prudencio Tom Banas to conduct a thorough probe into the incident and submit a report as soon as possible,” Yamsuan added.
Losers not spared
Meanwhile, a defeated mayoral candidate survived a grenade attack that injured two other people in Ilocos Sur late Tuesday.
Police said Amparo Sunio Abarquez survived the attack after two men hurled a grenade at her residence in Barangay Rizal, Cabugao, Ilocos Sur.
The attack though left two people injured and damaged several vehicles parked nearby.
Ilocos Sur police director Senior Superintendent George Regis identified the wounded as Bernardino Sunio and Regulo Dolores Jara.
Police said witnesses identified one of the two suspects as a certain Alvin Soller, who allegedly threw the grenade while shouting invectives at Abarquez.
Witnesses said Soller escaped while riding tandem with another man on a motorcycle.
A Starex van and two motorcycles parked near the area of the explosion were destroyed.
At the same time, unidentified men armed with M-79 grenade launchers attacked the town hall of Isulan in Sultan Kudarat, sending supporters of mayoral candidates into panic.
Isulan police chief Superintendent Danilo Posadas said the grenade attack sent several supporters of mayoral candidates scampering while watching the canvassing of votes of the town’s seven poll precincts.
Posadas said the explosions occurred at the back of the municipal hall around 10:30 p.m.
No one was hurt during the incident, Posadas said, adding the grenade attack was the third within a month in the run-up to the May 14 elections.
Last Thursday, a grenade fired from an M-79 grenade launcher exploded inside the public market. The explosion happened while the supporters of a losing mayoralty candidate were holding a vigil in front of the municipal hall.
Sultan Kudarat police director Superintendent Suharto Tocao has ordered Posadas “to exert all efforts to know the identity of the suspects and their armed affiliations.”
According to mayoral candidate Alfonso Dimasuay, the explosion forced the board of canvassers to suspend the counting.
Dimasuay said grenade attacks were meant to scare the people witnessing the counting of votes.
Lawmaker charged
Meanwhile, a congressman and his bodyguards were charged in the killing of a mayoral candidate in the town of Malita in Davao del Sur, two days after the elections.
Charges of double murder were filed against Davao del Sur Rep. Claude Bautista and four of his bodyguards in the killing of Malita mayoral candidate Isidro Sarmiento and his son Danilo last May 18.
Bautista, who is also a gubernatorial candidate, and his bodyguards were accused of fatally shooting the Sarmientos in front of their house in Barangay Poblacion during a heated argument.
Although Bautista admitted being at the scene of the crime, he pointed to his bodyguard, Arman Rellon, as the one who fired the fatal shots.
Bautista said Rellon was just doing his job, claiming the Sarmientos fired the first shot.
“I did not kill the Sarmientos. My bodyguards did it to protect me because the elder Sarmiento was already brandishing a gun and was firing at me,” Bautista said.
Rellon was also charged along with three other bodyguards of Bautista who remain at large.
Sarmiento was running against Bautista’s younger brother, Benjamin Jr. in the mayoral race of Malita.
Suspect surrenders
As this developed, a former policeman who was tagged as the gunman in the murder of a mayoral candidate in Bantayan Island in Cebu surrendered before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) through ABS-CBN in Manila.
Arnulfo Pigon, a former SWAT operative who went AWOL, claimed he was surprised to learn that he was being tagged as the gunman in the killing of Sta. Fe town mayoral candidate Rogelio Illustrisimo Sr. last May 2.
“It was only last May 9 when I learned that the police were looking for me. Even when I went into hiding I was already contemplating surrendering but I did not know who I could trust so I went to ABS-CBN... to tell my side of the story,” Pigon said.
Pigon claimed he was tending his poultry farm in Barangay Cupang, Antipolo City on the day of the assassination.
“I hope the PNP would conduct a more thorough investigation. It seems that they are in a hurry to finish the investigation. I am also appealing that they allow the NBI to take charge of the investigation. I trust the NBI more than the police,” he added.
Cebu authorities had put up a P1.3-million bounty while the NBI was asked to step in and investigate the murder, which was reportedly caught on security cameras at the municipal hall.
Illustrisimo was shot dead by a lone assailant just after he stepped out of the Comelec Cebu Provincial office after attending a hearing of the disqualification case filed against him by his opponent Domingo Zaspa.
Pigon said that although he was once assigned in Cebu province, he has no connection to any politician. - with Cecille Suerte Felipe, Jun Elias, Ramil Bajo, Edith Regalado, Evelyn Macairan