By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
BANGUED, Abra.—A councilor of Lagayan town and six of his companions, including two minors, were arrested Friday afternoon for illegal possession of firearms at a checkpoint in Barangay Alaoa in Tineg.
George Taguinod, 38, was driving a “military look-a-like truck bearing the license plate number RJU 838,” according to a memorandum addressed to the police regional director signed by Abra police chief Senior Superintendent Ernesto Gaab.
Police confiscated assorted firearms and ammunition, including two M-16 rifles, one baby Armalite, one .45-caliber pistol and two rifle grenades.
The police report said initial investigation showed that the vehicle was owned by Cromwell Luna, mayoral candidate of Tineg. Luna is the son of Rep. Cecilia Seares-Luna who is running for a second term.
All suspects were brought to Camp Juan Villamor in Bangued for questioning, Gaab said.
Lagayan Mayor Jendricks Luna, Cromwell’s brother, said the seized firearms did not belong to his family.
Taguinod, a passenger jeepney driver before he became a councilor, was driving a borrowed truck that carried goods for people of Tineg, Luna said.
Two men on motorcycles whom Taguinod and company suspected to be police officers asked Taguinod if they could place their luggage on the truck, and that they would follow it to Tineg. However, they abandoned Taguinod when they saw a checkpoint, Luna said.
On April 30, two men, one a certain Boy Lalugan from Lagayan, also fired at the wheels of a truck owned by Tineg Mayor Edwin Crisologo in San Juan. Crisologo is running for reelection and is being challenged by Cromwell Luna.
The truck carried goods as well as several passengers, including members of the Presidential Management Staff, who were to inspect Tineg for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s visit on Monday.
The president was supposed to inaugurate the Calaba Bridge in Bangued, but recent incidents forced her to postpone her visit indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the paraffin test on Bangued Mayor Dominic Valera’s yielded negative results, but these results are “not conclusive,” Gaab said.
Two witnesses pointed to Valera as the one who killed Mario Acena, the supporter of another Luna brother, Ryan, who is challenging Valera for the post of Bangued mayor.
Valera aired his side to national media in a press conference at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City Saturday, saying it was Ryan who planned to assassinate him. But Gaab said Valera has not given his affidavit to the police.
Valera has called Abra police “one-sided” in recent interviews, but police also say his witnesses refused to give their sworn statements to police, making investigation impossible.
Valera’s police escort, PO2 Joseph Barreras, meanwhile, is under Bangued police custody. A murder case has also been filed against him.
Valera and Crisologo have both petitioned to place their respective municipalities or the entire province under Commission on Elections control.
(Writer’s note: The inauguration of the Calaba Bridge in Bangued pushed through as scheduled on May 3, but without President Arroyo.)