TUGUEGARAO CITY , Philippines – The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Region 2 has filed charges of multiple attempted murder before the Department of Justice against two sons of Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) administrator Jose Marie Ponce and several others in connection with the failed ambush of four followers of the re-electionist mayor of Sta. Ana, Cagayan.
One of the accused, provincial board member Alphonse Jean Ponce, however, dismissed the accusation, alleging that the supporters of Mayor Darwin Tobias were the ones who assaulted them at their gasoline station in Sta. Ana town.
“Who would believe their story? It is hard to think we are putting our gasoline station in jeopardy of explosion if we are to stage an ambush in that very place,†Ponce told The STAR. Ponce lost to Tobias in the recent elections.
Also indicted were Ponce’s elder brother Louisse Philippe, gasoline station employee Rafaelo Liquigan, and several John Does.
The Ponces were accused of ambushing the van bearing Tobias’ supporters Benjamin Garperio Jr., Ariel Natividad, Rodolfo Valderama, and Dennis Quinto.
The younger Ponce, however, said the closed-circuit television camera at the gasoline station would prove that Tobias’ supporters were the ones who attacked their turf.
He added that he was not at the gasoline station when the incident took place, and that it was he who filed the same charges against Tobias before the prosecutor’s office in Aparri town.