Mayoralty bet supporter, cop in Escalante City slain by NPA hitmen

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  â€” A policeman and a police asset, who was an active supporter of a mayoralty candidate in Escalante City, were killed Monday night by six hitmen, allegedly belonging to the New People’s Army, police said yesterday.

Killed were PO1 Benjie Tanguan, 25, a member of the PNP 6th Regional Public Safety Battalion, and Joseph Lutrago, 39, a police asset in Escalante City, police investigations showed.

Reelectionist Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., in condemning the killings, said Lutrago was a supporter of Escalante mayoralty candidate Santiago Barcelona, who was also former mayor of the said city.

Senior Supt. Celestino Guara, acting director of the Negros Occidental Police, said Tanguan and Lutrago were riding a motorcycle when gunned down in front of the Escalante public market by the rebels.

Despite his injuries, Tanguan, before he died, managed to return fire, hitting two of the six assailants, said Supt. Jefferson Descallar, chief of the Escalante City Police.

The two injured hitmen were immediately transported by their comrades into a tricycle, which they used as their getaway vehicle, investigators said.

The incident took place an hour after gubernatorial bet Vice Gov. Genaro Alvarez Jr., and his allies, including Escalante City Mayor Melecio Yap, were conducting a campaign rally at the city’s Brgy. Old Poblacion.

In 2011, Yap was stripped of his supervisory power over the local police by the National Police Commission, because of his reported links to the NPA, allegations that he vehemently denied since then.

Since 2007, Escalante City has been in the Comelec watchlist of areas of concern in Negros Occidental, because of election-related killings and presence of alleged private armed groups.

Yap however said that the killing of Tanguan and Lutrago had nothing to do with politics, and that it was an insurgency-related incident.

Jonathan Lutrago, brother of former CAFGU member Armando Lutrago who was killed by the rebels on Dec. 3, 2011, also believed that the incident was not political as some members of his family have been hunted by the NPA for siding with the government.  (FREEMAN)