P’sinan vice mayor hurt, friend killed in ambush

BUGALLON, Pangasinan — This town’s vice mayor was wounded and one of his two companions was killed when they were ambushed while they were on their way home from a senior citizens’ affair shortly after midnight yesterday, police said.

Chief Inspector Rolando de Leon, municipal police chief, told The STAR that Vice Mayor Ernesto Mata and his two friends, Samuel Agbuya and Fred Ramos, had come from the affair at the town plaza and were headed to Barangay Cayanga aboard Mata’s car when two to three men waylaid them at about 12:10 a.m.

The group was fired at as they got near Mata’s house. The vice mayor, who was the one driving, was hit in the left hand. Agbuya, who was seated beside him, was killed.

Police found 11 empty caliber .45 shells at the crime scene. The ambushers, who were on board a van, fled toward Lingayen town.

Investigators are looking into two possible angles in the ambush — politics and links with last August’s killing of Mata’s brother Alex.

Alex was struck on the head with a hard object. A number of suspects are behind bars, while three others are at large. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is still investigating the case.

Meanwhile, Mata took over as Bugallon mayor after the Office of the Ombudsman suspended Mayor Benjamin Jose for a month.

Mata, however, said he was unsure if the attempt on his life was politically motivated. Two weeks ago, he declared that he was running for mayor in next year’s elections.

Senior Superintendent Mario Sandiego, provincial police director, told The STAR that because of Mata’s ambush, he is now considering this town as a probable election hot spot.

Another potential hot spot is Natividad town where the house of the local Commission on Elections officer was strafed recently.

Sandiego admitted that probers are strongly considering the political angle in Mata’s ambush. The STAR learned that a three-cornered mayoralty fight looms in Bugallon next year.

Sandiego said he talked to Mata over the phone yesterday morning and the vice mayor expressed suspicion that the ambushers could be guns-for-hire.

But he said Mata failed to recognize the ambushers because they were waylaid in a dimly lit area.

Sandiego said the gunmen probably thought that Mata was the one seated beside the driver. Mata was, indeed, there when they left the town plaza, but since it was already past midnight, he decided to take his driver home and drive the car himself.

He said he has provided Mata with bodyguards, and has instructed his police chiefs to intensify their efforts against loose firearms.