By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
BANGUED, Abra.— Police have found the body of a man buried in the backyard of Tineg Mayor Edwin Crisologo’s residence in Barangay Ubbog here Wednesday night.
The police report said the team that responded to a text message uncovered a “male cadaver” from a “garbage pit approximately two-feet” deep.
Abra Police Provincial Director Senior Superintendent Joseph Adnol identified the victim as Roy Gudao of Belaat, Tineg.
Tineg is about 80 kilometers northwest of Bangued, bordering the provinces of Apayao and Ilocos Norte. But Crisologo, like other mayors of various Abra towns, holds office and maintains a residence here in the capital.
Adnol said police do not yet have an autopsy report that could give more details but that “info states that that victim was identified” as a member of Crisologo’s private armed group.
“We need witnesses, sana lumantad ang may alam (We just hope those who know will come out),” he said.
Crisologo said Gudao was one of his leaders in Tineg. He also said police discovered the body while he was not home.
“I do not have any idea why that happened to him,” Crisologo said in Ilocano.
Crisologo just won his third term as mayor of Tineg. But Audi Benwaren, wife of mayoral candidate Lenin Benwaren, said they filed a protest at the Commission on Elections May 25.
In an earlier interview, Benwaren accused the Tineg Board of Canvassers of tampering with documents and illegal proceedings. Tineg Election Officer Carmelita Bayquen has denied the allegations.