ABC head, 2 others shot dead in Ecija

STO. DOMINGO, Nueva Ecija – The president of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) of this town and two others were killed while three others were wounded in a broad daylight attack Monday afternoon.

Senior Superintendent Ricardo Marquez, provincial police director, identified those killed as Guillermo Bernardo, 48, ABC president and barangay chairman of San Francisco; former barangay chairman Dionisio Santos, 59; and Evangeline de Guzman, 51.

Bernardo was a known ally of former vice governor Mariano Cristino Joson, Mayor Marvin Pariñas and former three-term mayor Jimmy Domingo in the Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija (Balane) party.

Santos and De Guzman were killed on the spot while Bernardo died in a nearby hospital.

Wounded were barangay treasurer Celso Aquino, 42; Louie Flores, 20; and Adrian Rena, 17.

Police said five men pulled off the attack at around 1:30 p.m. Monday along the Talavera-Sto. Domingo provincial road here.

Senior Inspector Felix Castro Jr., police station commander, said Bernardo and the five others were gathered at the back of a barangay chapel in San Francisco when they were fired at with M-16 Armalite rifles. The gunmen escaped aboard an unlicensed blue Mitsubishi Lancer.  – With Ric Sapnu