LINGAYEN, PANGASINAN – Gov. Amado Espino Jr. Monday declared a total war against hired guns in the province who are believed to have been involved in the killing of public officials since last year.
In his State of the Province Address, Espino said he was saddened by the death of Agno Mayor Arthur Cabantac, 55, who was gunned down on Saturday night inside a neighbor’s house while playing mahjong.
“I have ordered a thorough search of hired killers in the province. I have also ordered that people who are fond of hiring these people must be closely watched,” Espino said.
Three councilors in the province have already been murdered since October last year, yet no suspect has been arrested.
In an earlier interview, Senior Supt. Isagani Nerez, provincial police director, said investigators had yet to establish the motive in Cabantac’s slaying.
They have also failed to identify the assailant who shot Cabantac with an M-16 rifle from an open window facing the road in Barangay Poblacion East in Agno. Cabantac was the only one hit of four players, Nerez said.
The mayor’s police escort and security aides were not around when he was attacked.
Cabantac ran for mayor in Agno in 2004 but lost to reelectionist Mayor Adan Rosete. Last year, he ran again and beat Rosete’s wife, former Mayor Leticia Rosete, by 68 votes.
Vice Mayor Jose Pajeta Jr., Rosete’s nephew, will succeed Cabantac.
Sta. Barbara Mayor Reynaldo Velasco, vice president of the local chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, said the LMP had asked the police to “expeditiously” solve the killing.
“We deplore what happened and we just leave it to the authorities to solve. But definitely, the league will now take it up very seriously because we do not want anymore of that similar incident to happen,” Velasco, a retired police deputy director general, said.
Although the killings were not yet alarming, he said, “We just cannot allow these things to happen in Pangasinan.”
“This is supposed to be one of the most peaceful provinces. We cannot allow criminals to get into Pangasinan,” Velasco said. He said the mayors would do their part in stopping crimes in their areas.
“We are now coming out with a resolution but on our own individual effort, we will, in our respective towns, try to look for these [hired killers]. We’ll [do] search and destroy operations against all criminals,” he said.
