Suspected gunman of rights lawyer falls

STO. TOMAS, La Union — The suspected gunman in the near-killing of a human rights lawyer in Aringay town last March 22 was arrested inside the office of this town’s mayor yesterday.

The suspect, Eduardo Ramirez, 41, a resident of this town, was reading a newspaper inside the office of Mayor Severino Carbonell when the police collared him, said Senior Superintendent Samuel Diciano, La Union police director.

Diciano said witnesses to the attack on human rights lawyer Charlie Cirilito Juloya positively identified Ramirez as the gunman.

Juloya, a local leader of the party-list group Bayan Muna, survived the slay attempt with eight gunshot wounds in different parts of the body.

Juloya had exposed the jueteng operations in Aringay town where he resides.

Ramirez denied having any hand in the near-killing.

"This is politically motivated," he said, admitting that he worked as a bodyguard of Carbonell.

Ramirez was tagged as an alleged hit man who was involved in the killings of two Sto. Tomas barangay chairmen during the 2004 election campaign as well as in other crimes throughout the province.

Although Diciano considers the attack on Juloya a solved case, he said they still have to go after the mastermind.

Diciano bared allegations that a politician from the second district of La Union was giving protection to Ramirez.

Sources said Ramirez managed to immediately post P200,000 bail for the frustrated murder charge. His P80,000 bail bond for illegal possession of firearm was still being processed.

"If he was merely a close aide or a utility worker in the mayor’s office, how could he find that amount to bail himself out? There are people protecting him," one of the sources said.

Police said Ramirez’s arrest should now stop speculations that the military was involved in the slay attempt, as Juloya’s Bayan Muna colleagues have alleged.