Slain Pangasinan mayor laid to rest today

INFANTA, Pangasinan, Philippines – This town’s mayor who was slain last Dec. 15 will be laid to rest today amid tight security, as some important people are expected to join the funeral procession.

Senior Inspector Michael Bautista, municipal police chief, told The STAR that three teams from the regional and provincial Public Safety Battalion would augment the 28-man local police force in securing the burial of Mayor Ruperto Martinez.

Bautista said more than a hundred residents, relatives and friends of the mayor are expected to attend his burial.

Martinez was gunned down by two men in his residential compound, and two days, a certain Richard Manuel, the alleged gunman, and Ricardo Legarda who allegedly drove the getaway motorcycle, were arrested and charged.

Politics and the controversy over a mining pier project were being eyed as having something to do with Martinez’s killing.