Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said he would have turned up dead like Bacarra Mayor Philip Velasco and Councilor Marcelo Andaya had he showed up at the public auditorium where the killings occurred. Marcos was the guest of honor during the farmers’ festival on Sunday night (May 20) but he deferred going to the program when he was informed of the killings. “It was a big shock. If I was there, I would have been shot too, because I would have been seated beside (Mayor) Philip,” he said. “On the other hand) it wouldn’t have happened had I showed up because with my security, the situation and the plan would have changed,” he added. He recalled having called the mayor earlier that night that he couldn’t make it to the affair because he was not feeling well. The governor has advised mayors to reassess their security plan and be on alert whenever they go around the province. Velasco was the third Ilocos Norte public official gunned down by assassins in three years. “But how do you guard against somebody who is willing to die? There’s no defense against a suicide killer,” he said referring to the lone gunman who was later killed by the mayor’s security escorts. Marcos described the murders as “peculiar” noting that Bacarra was farthest from the list where election violence could erupt. He said there was something more beyond politics as behind the killing. “To do the (killing) after the elections has no political effect. They would have done it before the elections so that it could generate an effect against the rival,” he said. He said they were expecting disruptions in Laoag and Badoc town during the election because of intense competitions. The governor has already asked the Philippine National Police to find out who ordered the killing and find out the motives behind them. “We know that he is a contract killer. Who paid him? Who gave him the instructions to kill the mayor and shoot during the event?” he said. A police informant was able to identify the gunman as one Marlo Cabasag through his body marks and tattoos. No one has claimed the suspect’s remains, which are still kept at a local morgue in Bacarra as of press time. Marcos also said that the police has requested him not to disclose in detail the development of the investigation but he said he is confident of the PNP’s resolve to break open the case. Meanwhile the police have started reviewing the contents of the mobile phone recovered from the slain suspect hoping to find clues on the identity of the mastermind in the murders. Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil, Ilocos police director, said the attack was the work of hired guns. Velasco and Andaya were shot and killed on the night of May 20 as they were attending a farmers’ festival in the town auditorium. Five others were hurt, including Board Member Shirley Ong Sin who was hit by a stray bullet. The police have formed a task force to identify the slain suspect as well as those who might have conspired in carrying out the murders. They have also raised a P150,000 reward for people who could provide information on the suspects. The police have linked the murders to political and personal rivalry and in line with the victims’ work as public officials. “We have started opening the contents of the mobile phone that we retrieved from the suspect,” Bataoil said. He said the phone and the .45 cal. pistol recovered from the suspect were the only links that could help the police identify the mastermind and others involved in the crime. Bataoil said additional police and security escorts were sent to Velasco’s house where his remains were kept for the wake. “The way the killings were executed [showed] that it was the work of hired guns,” he said. The police, he said, have started transcribing the messages stored in the phone and calls that were made before the killings took place. The widows of Velasco and Andaya have asked the police to leave no stone unturned in their investigation and arrest the mastermind of the killings. Velasco was the third Ilocos Norte mayor felled by assassins’ bullets since 2004. Former Vintar Mayor Eleuterio Mabanag was gunned down in October 2004 while Marcos Mayor Rogelio Pambid was killed two weeks after Mabanag’s murder. Leilanie G. Adriano and Cristina Arzadon
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