Gun-for-hire suspected in killing of SB member

A gun-for-hire, believed to be a ward of a local politician, was tagged by witnesses as the gunman in the killing of a Sangguniang Bayan member of Tineg town in Abra on May 19, police said yesterday.

Cordillera police director Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin said investigators are eyeing the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) in the killing of Tineg town Sangguniang Bayan member Pedro Enon Sr., 63.

“The killing of Enon was politically-motivated,” said Martin, adding they are presently gathering evidence against the suspect and his political handler or Enon’s killing mastermind.

The Cordillera police director refused to name the suspect pending the filing of murder charges against him before the prosecutor’s office in Bangued, the capital town of Abra.

Initial reports showed that Enon was reviewing some personal documents inside his boarding house in Calaba, Bangued when the gunman surreptitiously sneaked inside and shot him several times with an Armalite rifle at about 8:30 p.m. Enon sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the body and was declared dead on arrival at the Seares Memorial hospital.

Witnesses saw the gunman leaving the boarding house using the backdoor, a rifle slung on his shoulders. Responding elements of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) recovered four spent shells fired from an Armalite rifle at the crime scene.

In his report to Martin, Senior Superintendent Alex Pumecha claimed Enon authored a resolution asking the municipal government to release P700,000 monthly from its P4 million IRA to be divided among the town’s eight councilors, Sangguniang Kabataan and Association of Barangay chairmen (BC) purportedly to finance various barangay development projects.

With a total land area of 82,893 hectares, Tineg, the biggest town in Abra, receives roughly P50 million IRA a year.

The Cordillera police director said IRA funds are linked to the unending intense political rivalry in the province.

“The rivalries among political families here is causing (the loss of) life and limb just (for them) to take control of the towns and the government funds (IRA) involved,” Martin told The Star.

Martin noted that IRA funds in some towns have reached the hands of “criminal syndicates.” The Cordillera police chief vowed to solve Enon’s killing.