CABIAO, Nueva Ecija – Barely a week after a Nueva Ecija congressman disclosed his petition to place the province under police control for spate of killings, a former vice mayor of this town was gunned down by still unidentified suspect.
Senior Insp. Romeo Ramos, ton police chief, said former Vice Mayor Bonifacio Clemente, 51, of the said place, died on the spot after two motorcycle-riding men pumped him with bullets from a cal. 45 pistol at about 1:30 P.M. on Thursday.
Sketchy reports said Clemente was standing in front of a vulcanizing shop in San Fernando Sur where he parked his Starex van at around 1:30 P.M. yesterday when two motorcycle-riding gunmen fired at his back. He succumbed to four bullet wounds from a caliber 45 pistol.
Mayor Abundia Garcia, said that Clemente’s killing is a sad episode in the town which has no known history of violence. "Mabait ‘yung tao na ‘yan."
Clemente was elected vice mayor in 2001 when Gloria Crespo-Congco was still mayor. He ran for reelection under Garcia’s ticket but lost to the incumbent, Mar Simbillo.
Reports said that prior to the incident, Clemente confided to someone that he was having problems with the cockpit arena he was operating. "He said he got involved in a feud involving the cockpit so I warned him to be extra careful," she recalled.
Garcia has created a task force to get into the bottom of the killing and has offered a reward that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.
Earlier, First Dist. Rep Eduardo Nonato Joson of Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija, said he has filed a request before the office of Philippine National Police (PNP) Director Gen. Avelino Razon for a "police control."
This he said will thwart occurrence of more violence. A lawyer, Joson said he would rather want a place heavily under police guard than one where civil liberties are assumed but lives are under threat.
