P100,000 reward up in Abra mayor’s slay

BAGUIO CITY — Politicians and businessmen in Abra are offering a P100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers of the mayor of La Paz town due to the failure of authorities to solve his Jan. 13 gunslaying.

Senior Superintendent Marvin Bolabola, Cordillera chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said the reward was prompted by the failure of a special task force to catch the killers of Mayor Ysrael Marc Bernos.

Two men attacked Bernos on the night of Jan. 13 while he was watching a basketball game at the town plaza as part of La Paz’s fiesta celebration.

Bernos’ security aides failed to repel the gunmen who fled on foot after the shooting.

The CIDG-led Task Force Bernos was tasked to go after the killers but Bolabola admitted that no witnesses have surfaced.

Bolabola, however, is now optimistic that with the reward, witnesses would be emboldened to come forward.

Earlier, Abra Gov. Vicente Valera, a political foe of Bernos, vowed to pressure the police to solve the killing.

Abreños and Bernos’ family, however, suspect that "dirty and warlord-spurred politics in Abra" prompted the killing.

Abra has been touted as the "killing fields" in the North due to many unsolved murders, largely believed to be politically motivated, there in recent years.