BAGUIO CITY – The mayor of Tineg, Abra denied any involvement in an ambush last April 5 that killed four civilians, including a 13-year-old boy.
Lawyer Estelita Cordero, speaking on behalf of Tineg Mayor Edwin Crisologo, said the latter’s political rivals had tagged him in the ambush to destroy his reputation.
The ambush on a provincial road in Sitio Dangpaoan, Barangay Alaoa in Tineg left 13-year-old Carlo Ayaba and three others dead and five others, including a 19-month-old baby and a two-year-old girl, wounded.
Police said the victims, together with five others, were on board a vehicle owned by losing mayoral bet Lenin Benwaren en route to Bangued, the capital town.
The ambush was allegedly pulled off by New People’s Army rebels led by one Procopio Tauro and armed goons of Crisologo led by one Eugenio Califlores.
Cordero, however, said Crisologo denied knowing Califlores, adding that the latter hails from Lagayan, the hometown of Abra Rep. Cecille Luna.
There were reports that the NPA ambushers could be after Tineg councilor Rey Tandi whom they had suspected to be behind the killing of Lititte Racquel, a ranking leader of the Agustin Begnalen Command, last October.
Tandi survived the ambush with scratches and bruises, but his wife, Maricel, a teacher, was shot and wounded in the neck as she tried to shield their two children aged eight and nine.
The NPA has so far kept mum about the ambush.
Cordero, however, shrugged off the alleged collusion between the rebels and the mayor’s supposed goons in the ambush.
“Let us not take reports hook, line and sinker because the people of Tineg know the truth,” Cordero said.
“The authorities must probe who Califlores is,” she said.
Earlier, Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, Cordillera police director, dared Crisologo to spearhead efforts for the surrender of Califlores and his companions to completely clear his name.
“He (Crisologo) promised to cooperate in our efforts for peace to prevail in Tineg and one step to prove his sincerity is for him to work for the surrender of Califores,” Martin said. – With Non Alquitran