Village chief in Abra murdered

BANGUED, Abra -  A village chief of the capital town of Bangued in Abra was murdered Monday night.

Raymund Bustamante Evangelista, 42, barangay chairman of Sinapangan, in Bangued was shot by his villagemate, a certain Berto Belisario at around 6:15 Monday night along Purruganan St., Zone 6, in the said town.

Bangued town police said Belisario invited the village chief to their house to talk about some matters. However, when the victim together with a certain Melchor Yves Sibayan was on their way to the suspect’s house, they were met with gunfire.

The barangay chief was immediately killed while Sibayan was able to flee unhurt.

Police said the firearm used was a caliber 45.

Sources claim that the village chief was an ally of former mayor Ryann Luna, who was ousted from his post before the May 2013 polls after a court ordered his arrest over the murder of a political bet in the 2010 polls.

Luna has fled and has not been arrested by police since then.

Less than a week before the barangay chairman’s killing Monday night, another Abrenian was murdered.

At 7:30 Tuesday evening last week in barangay Cabaroan, Tayum town, 62-year-old farmer Crisencio Molina was shot by still unnamed gunmen over a supposed tiff about an irrigation system.

The victim was irrigating his rice field when he met the two suspects and confronted him.  The victim insisted that it was his schedule to water his rice field but the suspects got irked and shot the victim.

A day before that, 45-year-old tricycle driver Elmer Ermino Galera was killed by gunmen while unloading his passengers in barangay Sagap, Bangued. - Artemio A. Dumlao