In the wake of
killings:
Election
Fever Mounts in Abra
As the May election
is fast approaching and candidacies are filed with the Commission on
Elections (Comelec), the election fever surges even in Abra with
announcements by alleged warring parties and individuals of their
intention to run challenging each other, at least in the polls.
BY LYN V. RAMO
AND ACE ALEGRE
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY — As the May election
is fast approaching and candidacies are filed with the Commission on
Elections (Comelec), the election fever surges even in Abra with
announcements by alleged warring parties and individuals of their
intention to run challenging each other, at least in the polls.
The latest announcement was made in
Baguio City by the kin of the late Rep. Luis “Chito” Bersamin Jr. Keith
Bersamin, the slain solon's brother. He recently told Baguio-based
media that he is running for governor. He said he intends not to exact
vengeance for his slain brother, but to carry on his brother's plans.
Valera said he and his wife Bangued
Mayor Ma. Zita Valera will be a tandem to watch for, without mentioning
the positions the duo is seeking.
Recantation
In a related development, while the
Congress and other groups have put up a total of P1.5 million
($30,794.49 at an exchange rate of $1=P48.71) in cash reward for any
information leading to the capture of the three main suspects in the
congressman's assassination, the slain solon’s eldest daughter disclosed
in the same press conference here that another prospective major witness
in the killing went on national broadcast recanting his earlier
pronouncements.
Charito Bersamin, 40, said she was
not surprised to learn that her slain father’s driver Allan Sawadan
recanted his earlier statements. She said that some “influential hands”
have probably used their money to silence the slain solon's driver.
Sawadan, who also sustained a gunshot wound from the attack on Bersamin
in December 2006, went on national TV and a nationwide radio station and
retracted his statement on the identity of the triggerman. Earlier, he
provided the information from which the cartographic sketch of the
alleged suspects in the killings of Bersamin and his bodyguard was
based.
The younger Bersamin said that of the
P1.5 million reward, P800,000 ($16,423.73) came from the House of
Representatives, P200,000 ($4,105.93) from the Philippine National
Police (PNP) and the rest from organizations and the family circle.
Killers younger than suspects
In his later statement,
Sawadan said over Bombo Radyo Laoag that the gunmen were young and not
falling within the ages of former Constable Rufino Panday and former La
Paz Vice Mayor Freddie Duppo, who are among those suspected of having a
hand in the killing.
The interview was aired live
in 48 provincial stations of Bombo Radyo Philippines in its noontime
show on Wednesday, January 24.
Panday, who is in his late
50s, also recanted his earlier declaration that he was a look-out in the
killing that was supposedly hatched in his presence and was allegedly
funded by Abra Governor Vicente Valera.
Duppo, believed to be in
hiding in the northern provinces after he was tagged by Task Force
Bersamin as the team leader of the assassination, is also in his late
40s, according to reliable sources.
The alleged mastermind and
his men
“We hold on to the evidence Sawadan
and Panday have submitted to the court,” Bersamin said, as she
repeatedly told the media that the three suspects are reportedly sighted
in the Ilocos provinces. She alleged that three of the suspects, Sammy
Taculao, Duppo and Dominador Barbosa are Abra Governor Vicente Valera’s
men, the alleged mastermind in the killings.
Valera, according to Bersamin, is the
slain solon’s uncle, not cousin as the former has earlier claimed.
Charito Bersamin said she is not surprised if Valera is the suspected
mastermind in the killing of her father because Bersamin was planning to
run against him in May.
“They (have not been) on speaking
terms since two years ago,” Charito said. She said the late congressman
earlier signed a covenant that he would not seek a fresh mandate in
Congress, but quipped that he was not going to break it because he was
planning to run in the Abra gubernatorial race. The covenant was
reportedly signed in the presence of Abra politicians including Valera.
The younger Bersamin said the family
even decided to hire Sawadan, but he has not reported to work since the
assassination.
Laxity
The Bersamins had just lost Board
Member James Bersamin to another assassin when the congressman was
gunned down in Quezon City in December. Charito said her father used to
have only two body guards, one assigned at home and another who used to
go with him to Congress. But when the board member was killed, the
family pleaded that he augments his security force.
“He was not so security-conscious,”
she said. She recalled that often, the congressman would drop his body
guard home and go home by himself. She said he used to receive death
threats and even noticed two motorcycles tailing him before he was
killed, but he did not tell any one in the family. “We learned of the
threats after he died,” the younger Bersamin said.
Valera who denied allegations that he
was the mastermind was earlier arrested for breaking a traffic
regulation, but is out on bail. Police confiscated the firearms from his
vehicle during his arrest.
Derailed
Sawadan's recantation
derailed earlier theories of the government-formed Task Force Bersamin
which is now into the thick of investigating the daring afternoon slay
in front of the Mt. Carmel Church on Dec. 16 in New Manila, Quezon
City.
“We will nail down the
truth,” said Force Bersamin investigator Sr. Supt. Isagani Nerez. He
offered no explanation though as he remains tight-lipped on the case and
Sawadan’s recantation.
However, for Governor
Valera's allies and observers who are akin to Abra politics, Sawadan's
declaration has vindicated the governor who had complained of
"persecution" and "trial by publicity."
Valera, a lawyer, immediately
brushed aside as "hearsay" Panday's earlier statement to the police on
his alleged involvement in the killing. He said his assertion of
innocence is strengthened by Panday’s more recent allegation that he was
“tortured” into making his earlier statement – an allegation that the
Abra police has denied.
During Representative
Bersamin's burial in Bangued on Dec. 27, his older brother Justice Lucas
Bersamin of the Court of Appeals urged police investigators to avoid
shortcuts in their investigation. He was outraged and was heard saying,
Valera, suspek ka na!” (Valera, you are now suspect!)
As this developed, Charito
called on Abreños and visitors in Abra to be more understanding in the
light of searches at certain checkpoints by the Task Force Bersamin. In
the same manner, Valera claimed innocence over the killings before a
crowd at the provincial capitol in Bangued recently. Lyn V. Ramo and
Ace Alegre for NORDIS, with a report by Joseph Pangke/ posted by
Bulatlat
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