Kagawad yields gun as ex-P’sinan mayor is buried

SAN NICOLAS, Pangasinan — Alert policemen nabbed a barangay kagawad here for illegal possession of a gun while hundreds of mourners joined yesterday’s funeral of former town mayor Conrado Rodrigo Jr. who was gunned down last May 27.

Jonny Martinez, 39, a councilman of Barangay Fianza, was accosted by PO3 Romeo Bustarde of this town and PO1 Arsenio Paglingayen of the Provincial Mobile Group.

The PMG was assigned here with two other teams to augment the local police following Rodrigo’s killing.

Martinez was nabbed after a resident tipped off the lawmen that he was "acting suspiciously" while Rodrigo’s remains were being brought to the town hall at about 10 a.m.

When lawmen assigned in front of the church asked if Martinez was a soldier since he was wearing a camouflage hat and was carrying a camouflage bag, he said no, prompting them to check the contents of his bag.

Seized from him was a caliber .38 with six live bullets, wrapped in a black sweatshirt with police markings.

Martinez admitted to reporters that the gun was unlicensed and that he brought it for his protection.

He said he lives about 14 kilometers away from the town proper and that he had to walk about seven kilometers before reaching the highway where he claimed communist rebels abound.

The STAR learned that Chief Inspector Rhode Espero was relieved as San Nicolas police chief last June 4. He was temporarily replaced by Inspector Fernando Paneda.

Rodrigo served as San Nicolas mayor from 1991 to 2001. He was the Liga ng mga Barangay president when he was shot dead in front of the town’s gymnasium after delivering his "farewell speech" to his fellow barangay chairmen asking them to support the new municipal administration.

His son, Mayor Christopher Jones Rodrigo, lost his re-election in the May 10 polls.

A suspect in the elder Rodrigo’s killing, Jonathan de Leon, is detained at the district jail in nearby Tayug town.