Killers of municipal poll exec still at large

NATIVIDAD, Pangasinan — Peace and order has again set in in this town, but the killers of the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) registrar last month have remained scot-free.

And a witness in the assassination of Comelec registrar Rodolfo Ruiz last March 9 is missing.

Since Ruiz’s killing, several developments have taken place here.

First, this town at the foot of the Caraballo mountain in the easternmost part of Pangasinan, has a new police chief.

Second, a new Comelec registrar, Jocelyn Rante, has been appointed to succeed the slain 51-year-old Ruiz.

Third, a regional police mobile group has been assigned here to reinforce the local police in maintaining peace and order following the declaration of Natividad town as an election "hot spot," or in Comelec parlance, an "area of immediate concern."

The new officer-in-charge of the municipal police is Superintendent Nestor Bergonia, who had just completed his tour of duty in the United Nations mission in the global trouble spot of Kosovo.

The 41-year-old acting police chief had served as police chief of Bayambang, Pangasinan and deputy police chief of Urdaneta City. He also had a stint in East Timor, a former Indonesian province that is now an independent state.

Bergonia took over as acting Natividad police chief last April 6, vice Chief Inspector Eddie Granil, who has been assigned to Labrador town.

The police continue to work on the case of Ruiz, who was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding men while he was on his way to his office in the municipal hall last March 9. He sustained four bullet wounds from a caliber .45 pistol.

SPO4 Lito Diaz, officer-on-case, earlier reported that Ruiz was riding in his motorcycle when he was slain just about half a kilometer away from the town hall.

Police records show that Ruiz’s house in Barangay San Modesto, west of the town proper, was strafed last Nov. 9, the last day of the registration of voters for the May 10 elections.

Ruiz, described as a likable and deeply religious man, had reportedly rejected a number of registrants for failing to show documents proving their residency in Natividad.

Senior Superintendent Mario Sandiego, provincial police director, has reportedly said Ruiz’s killing was "90 percent politically motivated."

Bergonia told The STAR that the witness in the killing, a resident of neighboring San Quintin town south of Natividad who gave investigators a description of the gunmen, was reported missing.