Vice mayor's aide tagged in Cagayan town councilor’s slay

TUGUEGARAO, Cagayan, Philippines  —  An alleged bodyguard of the vice mayor of Rizal, Cagayan was charged with murder yesterday in connection with the killing of Councilor Alfredo Alvarez on Sunday.

Jessie Labang, 48, who was arrested in Barangay Sampaguita, Solana town on Monday night, was positively identified by the son of Alvarez as one of two motorycle-riding men who shot his father, according to Chief Superintendent Mario Espino, Cagayan police director.

In 2013, Labang was arrested at a beerhouse in Solana for carrying a caliber .45 pistol. 

Rizal Vice Mayor Joel Ruma denied that Labang was his bodyguard, saying the suspect has been employed as a janitor at the municipal government since when he was mayor in 2013. The incumbent mayor of Rizal is Ruma’s wife, Brenda.

Ruma refused to comment on the killing of Alvarez, which probers said could be politically motivated.

Alvarez, 64, was in his Honda Civic on his way home when he was shot.

In Surigao del Norte, Johnny Bernadez, 39, kagawad in Barangay Magtangale, was killed in a gun attack also by motorcycle-riding assailants on Monday.

Meanwhile, in Abra, Jovito Terredano, 62, former councilor in San Juan town, was found dead with a gunshot wound in the neck in Sitio Ngabao, South Poblacion also on Monday.