La Trinidad, Benguet – An aide of Abra Rep. Ma Jocelyn Valera-Bernos was killed Monday night in Bangued, Abra’s capital town.
Iralee Beralde, a support staff of Bernos in her district office in Abra, was gunned down by still unidentified assassins in front of her house in Bangued.
Beralde reportedly was under surveillance before the murder as someone was getting her video in front of her house.
Both the Cordillera and Abra police have not yet completed their details on the matter.
Since Monday last week, supporters of now fugitive Bangued Mayor Ryann Luna were barricading the capital town hall despite the taking over of Vice Mayor Allan Seares, a cousin of the mayor, as ordered by the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Calling for justice, supporters of Luna believe the local chief executive was a victim of political vendetta.
Luna is seeking for a re-election against Bernos’s father, Dominic, while his brother Hans is challenging Bernos and his mother, Cecille, is slugging it out with Bernos's ally— incumbent Gov. Eustaquio Bersamin in the gubernatorial race.
Tuesday night’s murder of Bernos’s aide, who was also a very close family friend, points to the tension-filled local political situation in the province. (Artemio Dumlao)