P’sinan b’gay head, tanod killed in ambush

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan — A barangay captain here and one of his tanods were waylaid by unidentified men the other night, but the city mayor readily downplayed any political angle in the killing.

Police said Barangay Bacnar captain Antonio de Vera Torio, 49, and tanod Ferdinand Reyes, 28, were on routine patrol aboard a barangay vehicle at about 10 p.m. when they were fired at several times. Both died on the spot.

Re-electionist Mayor Jolly Resuello dismissed politics as the motive behind the killing and rebuked his rival, Vice Mayor Harry Cagampan, for "making it appear that San Carlos City is the most disorderly place" due to the ambush-slaying.

Police found 36 spent M-16 shells and 12 spent caliber .30 shells at the crime scene.

One of the motives reportedly being looked into is revenge. Police sources said Torio allegedly got the ire of cattle rustlers after he turned his back on them when he was elected barangay captain.

Sometime in 2000, Torio survived a slay attempt in front of his residence. He tagged a certain Gil Bulatao, a wanted cattle rustler, as the one behind the attack.

When Bulatao was killed in 2001, his relatives implicated Torio.

Police sources said they are not discounting politics as a motive considering that the ambush-killing happened in the run-up to the May 10 elections.

Torio was a known supporter of Resuello. But Cagampan said in an interview with dzSD-Super Radyo Dagupan that Torio was his supporter and that Barangay Bacnar was his bailiwick.

Cagampan said Torio was his close friend, adding that their parents had been political allies.

"This (Torio’s killing) is not normal anymore to San Carlos City because within three weeks, five persons have been killed," he said.

In a radio interview, Resuello, however, said he believes that Torio’s killing was not politically motivated, adding that cattle rustlers feared the barangay captain.

He denied that Torio was Cagampan’s supporter. "You can count only a few (people) supporting the vice mayor," he said.

"San Carlos City is a peaceful place, contrary to what the vice mayor is saying," Resuello said.

"I was there in Bacnar as soon as the report on Torio’s killing reached me. I helped in the investigation and saw how the people reacted. But where was the vice mayor who claimed to be a close friend of Tony?" he said.

Resuello said the earlier killings could not be attributed to politics, saying the motives behind them could have been more personal than political. — With Cesar Ramirez