Reds behind 1988 slay of Vizcaya gov’s husband – police

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – After exactly two decades of speculations over who killed then Bambang mayor Benjamin Cuaresma Jr., husband of now Gov. Luisa Lloren-Cuaresma, in January 1988, police yesterday said conclusive statements from rebel returnees finally confirmed their long-time belief that the communists were behind it.

“In our interview with several former rebels, it has been confirmed that the underground movement was behind the gruesome killing of Gov. Cuaresma’s husband. As far as we are concerned, the 20-year-old case has reached its conclusion as far as the identities of the killers are concerned,” said Senior Superintendent Segundo Duran, provincial police director.

Mayor Cuaresma was only 33 years old when he was slain on Jan. 8, 1988, or exactly 20 years ago today.

Duran, who was a company commander of the defunct Philippine Constabulary here when the Cuaresma killing took place, said these rebel returnees admitted they were among those who abducted Mayor Cuaresma from a wedding feast in Sitio Cawacao, now Barangay Santo Domingo West, in Bambang town.

Most of them incidentally hail from Nagbitin village in Villaverde town, then a hotbed of communist insurgency,

Three days later, Cuaresma’s body was found in an abandoned field in Barangay Salinas, also in Bambang town, with slash wounds in the neck and his head almost totally severed.

Cuaresma’s brutal slaying, which happened during the campaign period in 1988, resulted in his pharmacist-wife being thrust into the political limelight, later winning the mayorship in a landslide sympathy vote.

The move resulted in the then 33-year-old plain housewife’s embarking on a political career that saw her through three consecutive terms as mayor of Bambang, from 1988 to 1998, two consecutive terms as vice governor, from 1998 to 2004, and now on her second term as governor. This also took place while she raised her four children: 25-year-old Benjamin III, now the mayor of Bambang town; Luisa Marie, 24; Lloyd, 23; and Luisa Corazon, 21.

Even during her previous terms, the 51-year-old widow had been praying that justice be served for her husband’s killing.

“We learned that those who were actually responsible for (Mayor Cuaresma’s) killing later died in encounters with the military and police over the years,” Duran said.

Although justice may no longer be served against Mayor Cuaresma’s killers, his family can now put a closure to this sad chapter on his gory death.  

“At least, I am happy that we already know who the perpetrators are. I know that Boyie, wherever he is, is at peace and happy for the development not only of Bambang but also of the whole province,” Gov. Cuaresma said.