Abra councilor killed

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Violence in Abra province seems to have never really died down. Instead, assassins have become bolder.   

The latest victim was 65-year-old Tineg town councilor Pedro Inon who was shot dead Monday night in his own boarding house in Barangay Calaba in Bangued, Abra’s capital town.

Last April 20, a septuagenarian lawyer and a security guard were killed inside their own turfs several hours in between.

Veteran criminal defense lawyer Demetrio Villamor Pre, 75, was gunned down in his house-cum-law office in Barangay Bone 4, Bangued town.

That same day, and just a few steps away from Pre’s house, 32-year-old security guard Efren Bersalona was slain in the Bangued town hall where he was on duty.

The Bangued town hall is just a few meters away from the provincial capitol building where President Arroyo met with National Security Council and Cordillera leaders a week before the killings. Both murders remain unsolved.

Inon, the third ranking board member of hinterland Tineg town, was resting in his boarding house when he was killed Monday night.

Inon was a known political ally of Tineg Mayor Edwin Crisologo, who in turn, is associated with former governor Vicente Valera.