Pinays mark 70 years of suffrage

The Quezon City court has ordered the arrest of a former Abra local official and two others in the killing of Rep. Luis Bersamin and his police bodyguard in December last year.
Task Force Bersamin spokesman Senior Superintendent Benjamin delos Santos said three branches of the Quezon City regional trial court issued separate warrants of arrest against former La Paz, Abra vice mayor Freddie Dupo, Salvador Barbosa and Sunny Taculao.

The court recommended no bail for the three suspects who are still at large, Delos Santos added.
The charges include two counts of murder for the killing of Bersamin and his police bodyguard SPOI Adolfo Ortega. The three sus-“pects were also charged with frustrated murder for wounding secu-rity aide Allan Sawadan and a 13-year-old parking attendant.

Bersamin and Ortega were shot by unidentified men while attending a wedding at the Mt. Carmel Church in New Manila, Quezon City on Dec. 16, 2006.
The court allowed the admission made by Rufino Panday, a former constable who claimed to have acted as the lookout and named the three suspects as the principals.
Panday also tagged Abra Gov. Vicente Valera as the mastermind in the murder, claiming the governor funded the P5-million contract for the lawmaker’s assassination.
Panday gave detailed information on how they planned to carry out the assassination.

He said he learned from Dupo about Valera’s involvement in the plot after discussing the assassination contract with Barbosa and Taculao, who acted as the trigger men.
Valera has denied the allegations. No charges have been filed against the governor for lack of direct evidence implicating him in the murder.

A week after he was implicated in the murder, Valera was arrested and charged for illegal possession of firearms and explosives in Quezon City.

The governor was able to post bail on the charges but denied involvement in the killing.

Valera maintained the allegations linking him to the assassination of Bersamin “were just hearsay” even after he was tagged by Panday.
Panday has retracted his admission but police said his initial confession has been supported by physical evidence, particularly the abandoned motorcycle used as getaway vehicle whose ownership was traced to his name.

Panday had claimed Valera initially gave them P500,000 for the job and got P100,000 initial share for acting as a lookout and for buying the getaway vehicle.
Police said Dupo is a known political ally of Valera, who is also wanted in the killing of three other mayors in Abra.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has placed Abra under its control in anticipation of an outbreak of violence that could be triggered by the electoral showdown between Valera and the slain lawmaker’s brother.

Valera will be seeking to represent the province at the House of Representatives but his wife Ching, who has served as mayor of Bangued, is running in the gubernatorial race against Eustaquio Bersamin.