Gunman in Bayan leader’s slay nabbed

SAN FERNANDO, La Union — Police consider the gunslaying of the Pangasinan secretary general of the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on May 16 last year solved with the arrest of the suspected gunman last Tuesday.

Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, Ilocos regional police director, told The STAR that the suspect, Joel Flores, 28, was nabbed on the strength of an arrest warrant issued last Dec. 20 by Judge Ulysses Batuyan of the Tayug Regional Trial Court.

Bataoil said Batuyan found probable cause to indict Flores for murder and frustrated murder with the use of an unlicensed firearm in connection with the killing of Bayan leader Jose Doton.

Doton, 62, also the chapter president of Tignay Ti Mannalon a Mangwayawaya ti Agno (Timmawa), and his brother Cancio, 57, were on their way home to Barangay Caboloan in San Nicolas town on board a motorcycle when two men, also aboard a motorcycle, fired at them. Doton died instantly, while Cancio was wounded.

After the incident, police placed Flores under surveillance after a witness tagged him as the triggerman.

Reports said Flores learned that he was being watched and poked his gun at policemen on June 1 last year, leading to his arrest. Charged with illegal possession of a firearm, he, however, immediately posted bail.

A check with the Land Transportation Office showed that Flores owned the getaway vehicle, a Honda motorcycle with license plate HM 8571, and the caliber .45 pistol confiscated from him that matched with the murder weapon.