By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES BANGUED, Abra—The filing of certificates of candidacy for local positions last week signals the approaching election season, and for inmates at the Abra Provincial Jail (APJ), this could mean one thing: Freedom.
BANGUED, Abra – The whistleblower who has filed a complaint of plunder against two members of one of Abra’s most powerful clans now faces arrest after they turned the tables on her and sued her for falsification of documents.
By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
BANGUED, Abra.—Five years ago today, the then highest-ranking politician of Abra province was shot dead outside a church in Quezon City in broad daylight, signaling the fall of one of Abra’s most prominent families and the rise of other political dynasties.
The killing also ushered in a period of intensified violence that has made the province one of the country’s most dangerous places, its capital Bangued the so-called “murder capital of the north.”
By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
IN olden times, churches were considered sanctuaries where even criminals could seek refuge from harm and arrest. That’s long in the past. In fact, churches may be among the worst places to commit a crime, especially when a wedding is taking place. On Dec. 16 five years ago, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in New Manila, Quezon City became the site of blood spill and murder.
By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
BANGUED, Abra—He spends his days in jail now, but former governor Vicente Isidro Valera once lived in a mansion on a mountaintop in Barangay Lingtan here from where he could gaze at the province of Abra, the kingdom he ruled for two decades. But since his arrest on September 2009, “home” to Valera has been the Bicutan Jail in Taguig City, devoid of all the comforts he once enjoyed as Abra’s head honcho.
By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
AS if living up to its moniker “murder capital of the north,” shooting incidents in Abra in the first quarter of 2011 have almost tripled compared to those recorded in the same period in 2010, an election year.
A partially covered burnay (earthen jar) placed in a corner of the veranda catches the eye while the smell of a decaying chick inside a red plastic hang at the doorway greets visitors at the wake of Concepcion Bag-ayan-Balansi in Barangay Damayco in Peñarrubia, Abra.
