‘Prevent ex-mayor, 5 others from leaving RP’

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — Police requested the Bureau of Immigration yesterday to issue hold departure orders against a former mayor of San Ildefonso, Bulacan and five others in connection with the killing of former Mayor Honorato Galvez and his bodyguard on June 9 last year.

Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya, Central Luzon police director, said Senior Superintendent Edgardo Acuna, Bulacan police chief, made the request after Malolos Regional Trial Court Judge Basilio Gabo issued warrants for the arrest of former San Ildefonso mayor Enrique Viudez Jr. and his five co-accused.

The five are Eulogio Villanueva, Ronald Manabat, Cirilo de la Cruz, Guilberto Chico and Edmond Fernando.

In his report, Acuna said Viudez and his co-accused were charged in Criminal Cases 2492-M-2001 and 2493-M-2001 for the killing of Galvez and his driver-bodyguard, Rodolfo Mangahas.

Police said a lone assailant gunned down Galvez and his bodyguard after the former mayor had attended a Rotary Club meeting in Barangay San Juan.

Galvez was a suspect in the killing of La Salle engineering student Alvin Vinculada but was later acquitted by the court. He was seeking re-election when he was killed. — Ric Sapnu