Board member denies hand in Urbiztondo mayor’s murder

BY PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – A provincial board member who had a running feud with slain Mayor Ernesto Balolong Jr. even before the 2013 election has clarified he and his family have nothing to do with the cold-blooded slaying that happened in broad daylight on June 7.

 Board Member Raul Sison

Interviewed by newsmen at his office before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) started its regular session Monday, a teary-eyed Second District Board Member Raul Sison said even if his son Raul Martin Sison is the vice mayor of Urbiztondo and will succeed as mayor by operation of law, he can swear that the Sison family had nothing to do with the slaying.

Sison said he was attending a cockfighting at Araneta Coliseum on the day Balolong was assassinated while supervising work on a construction site owned by his family at the back of CSI Supermarket in Poblacion, Urbiztondo.

He said he is willing to cooperate with investigators and to give his statement if it is needed by them.

“If they (investigators) need my statement, I will do it if only to help expedite the solution of the case, he said in Filipino.

In the interview with newsmen, Sison said he knows that the suspicion will be heaped on them (Sisons) because it is his son Raul Martin who will benefit from the incident and become the town mayor.

That is why, he said, he advised his son not to assume yet the position of the mayor till Mayor Balolong is brought to his final resting place.

The elder Sison used to be councilor of Urbiztondo during the first term of office of Mayor Balolong, a position that qualified him to be elected as president of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL).

Now, he is on his first term as regularly elected board member of Pangasinan representing the second congressional district.

Urbiztondo Mayor Tries to Pull his Handgun vs. Killers

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

URBIZTONDO, Pangasinan –After the first volley of fire from the guns of the assailants, the former mayor here tried to draw his gun to retaliate but his right hand was disabled after it was hit by the bullets of his killers.

Senior Inspector Michael Bautista, the chief of police here, told former Pangasinan’s Congressman Mark Cojuangco who stood as the godfather of the son of the late mayor last June 8 – a day after his assassination.

Bautista said that just after the assailants opened the doors of the Toyota Innova vehicle near the back of the branch of CSI Supermarket they immediately disembarked guns blazing against the mayor and the other victims.

He said witnesses saw two males wielding an M-16 Armalite and another assassin  firing a 9mm hand gun.

“At the first salvo the mayor was hit by bullets on his right chest and right shoulder. He tried to run away from the killers as he tried to pull out his hand gun from his waistline but he did not make it as his hand became handicapped by the shots,” the chief of police said.

Balolong, according to media friends, carried a 45 and a 9 mm he tucked or hid on his waistline or side pants' pocket.

In this assassination, Balolong was hit by 27 bullets, his police body guard Police Office 1 Elisio Ulanday, and Edmund Meneses, a CSI employee were pronounced dead too while Rex Ferrer, personal aide of Balolong, and Jose Vigilla, CSI worker were wounded.

He said Dr. Samuel Elguera told family members that when he arrived at the Elguera Hospital in San Carlos he was already dead as a result of excessive gunfire fire he absorbed.

After the shooting that commenced at 8:50 Am of June 8, the getaway vehicle was abandoned by the killers at Barangay Caoayan-kiling in nearby San Carlos City.

But a source at the intelligence community, who asked anonymity, told this paper that a resident Nena Camacho of that village told him that she saw two females and a male disembarked from the black Innova car when they abandoned them there.

Vice President Jejomar Binay and former Pangasinan
Congressman Mark Cojuangco consult to Pangasinan
Acting Provincial Director Raymond Sterling Blanco
(extreme right) as Merlie Balolong - the widow of
slain mayor Ernesto Balolong - listen during the visit of
the duo in the wake of the former mayor.

“They transferred to a white or cream Innova they used as cover for their escape,” he told this paper.

Former Congressman Cojuangco told the media that the motive to the death of the mayor could either be political or business.

Balolong, a major businessman here, has a checkered political life.

In 2012, the police raided his house in the town proper and confiscated a cache of high-powered firearms and ammunition.

But he proved to authorities that all the firearms have corresponding licenses. In late 2013, NBI agents conducted another raid on his house after a self-confessed gunman Otto Guialaludin, who was his former bodyguard, admitted he was behind the murder of Lingayen town former Vice Mayor Ramon Arcinue and his wife Zorayda; Public Attorney Office’s lawyer Dante Untalan, and Pasibe-East school principal Herminigildo Sabangan. He said he was Balolong’s hit man. 

But Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue, the brother of the slain vice mayor, denied in a radio interview that Balolong has a motive in the killing of the couple. 

Recovered in that raid were 21 firearms, including M-16 and M-14 rifles.

In a dramatic arrest covered by the national TV, a resisting Balolong was dragged to the vehicle by the NBI operatives who detained him in Manila. He posted a bail of P160,000 after he was initially charged with tampering with the serial numbers of the firearms.

SP invites PDEA to 'Question Hour

Lingayen- - -The provincial board will invite the Regional Director and the Pangasinan team leader of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to appear in a question hour on their regular session on June 23 to apprise the august body about the agency’s campaign against illegal drugs in the province.

            Provincial Resolution No. 602-2014 authored by Board Member Alfonso Bince, Jr. states that peace and order is a vital and indispensable component in a certain community to attain economic progress and sustainable development.

            The Sangguniang Panlalawigan resolution further stated,’ is in the process of assessing the current level of peace and order in the province and one of its growing concerns is the proliferation of illegal drugs in the province which is considered a menace of the society.’

            In a report presented by PS/Supt.Sterling Raymund Blanco he stated that the aggressive PNP campaign against illegal drugs led to the arrest of 213 pushers and users and the seizure of shabu and marijuana from January to May this year.

Pangasinan expresses sympathy over Mayor Balolong’s death

Lingayen- - -The provincial government has expressed its sincerest condolences and deepest sympathy to the bereaved family of Urbiztondo Mayor Ernesto V. Balolong, Jr. who was killed by armed men while supervising a project near the town hall.

One of the victims of a dastardly act in the Philippines.

            In a resolution filed during the 38^th regular session of the provincial board held June 9, Board Member Alfonso Bince, Jr. said that the entire officialdom “extends its condolences to a fellow public servant who has served his constituents with the best of his ability.”

            Balolong along with his police bodyguard was gunned down by unidentified gunmen at the back of the CSI Mall in Urbiztondo at around 9:30 in the morning of Saturday.

            The provincial board was about to file Provincial Resolution No. 601-2014, which was approved last June 6 in their regular session, affirming the resolution of the committee on good government and accountability of public officers denying the motion to dismiss previously filed by the slain mayor in SP administrative case no. 03-2013 for grave misconduct in office, abuse of authority, dereliction of duty and violation of the local government code of 1991 and related laws.

P’sinan’s Mayor Balolong , 2 others Waylaid to Death

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

URBIZTONDO, Pangasinan – The controversial mayor of this 3rd class town and two other persons were waylaid to death by Armalite assault rifle and 9mm handgun wielding gunmen this morning in a commercial building he was constructing.

The late Urbiztondo Mayor Ernesto Balolong in a controversial  photo when he
was arrested by the members of the National Bureau of Investigation in
November 27, 2013.

A resident of this town, who asked not to be named, said he saw the sprawled lifeless bodies of Mayor Ernesto Balolong, his police body guard, and an employee of the branch here of CSI Supermart while a taho  (soya drink) vendor was wounded.
“Puro sa dibdib ang tama ni mayor (all the wounds were on the chest of the mayor)”.
He said that around 8:50 of June 7 Balolong, who was with a body guard, was checking the vicinity of his commercial building that is beside his gas station. He said a Toyota Innova car that came from the direction of the public market and traversing the Mabini Street going to the direction of San Carlos City stopped.
“Dalawang lalaki ang bumaba at nilapitan sila mayor, niratrat ng Armalite (Two males disembarked and started to pepper them with bullets)”.
He said the mayor sustained multiple gun shot wounds on his chest and back after a short chase.
In a progress reports sent by Pangasinan Provincial Director Raymond Sterling Blanco to this paper, after the incident Balolong was immediately brought to Elguira Hospital in the nearby San Carlos City and was pronounced dead on arrival (DOA).
“The vehicle, Toyota Innova, colored dark gray with plate number YBG6000 used by the suspects, was recovered at Barangay Caoayan - Kiling, San Carlos City as their gateway vehicle. Police Officer 1 Elision Ulanday and Edmund Meneses, CSI employee were rushed to VMU hospital and pronounced DOA. Rex Ferrer was brought to RHU Ubiztondo for medical treatment. Firearms used by the suspects were alleged M16 and 9mm (hand gun),” Blanco stressed.
The resident explained that the location of the mayor and the three other victims was near the CSI Supermart and near the house of the mayor.
“The mayor was a regular fixture at his gas station and his new building whenever he was not at the municipal hall.
Harold Barcelona, a media man and a friend of Balolong, said that the mayor even in his gas station was armed with a .45 and .9mm caliber pistols he hid on his waistlines.
In a news report from Aksyon Radyo Dagupan City
Balolong was immediately taken to the Elguira General Hospital in San Carlos City. But Dr. Samuel Elguira, hospital owner, said that Balolong was already dead when he arrived in the hospital at about 9:55 a.m.
“He had 27 gunshot wounds, in his chest and his back,” Elguira said in an interview.
Balolong has been a controversial political figure in the province and the country after he was arrested and dragged to a vehicle on November 27, 2013 by officers of the National Bureau of Investigation after he resisted arrest.
The cases filed by the NBI like illegal possession of a cache of powerful weapons and resisting arrest to persons in authority were all dismissed.

MANHUNT: A policeman briefs Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil (2nd 
District, Pangasinan) on the get-away vehicle of the killers they 

abandoned at Brgy. Caoayan-Kiling , San Carlos City. 

Bataoil exhorted PNP Regional Director Chief Supt. Roman Felix and

PNP Provincial Director Supt. Raymond Sterling Blanco to leave no
 stone's unturned on their investigation. Bataoil asks them to identify and 
apprehend the suspect or suspects immediately. Balolong is Bataoil's
constituent and supporter.

He was fingered to be the patron of Otto Guialaludin, alias Boy Muslim, an arrested hired killer, who was fingered to be the one behind the assassination of Lingayen town’s former Vice Mayor Ramon Arcinue and wife Sorayhada in Manila.
His second administrative case of 60 days preventive suspension stemmed when he  signed into law an appropriation ordinance giving an allocation of P8, 441, 35.59 to the Philippine Natonal Bank in August 2013 despite the rejection of the provincial board of the appropriation in this town’s 2013 budget as an amortization to the bank.
But just like the first 60 days preventive suspension, the Office of the President overturned the decision of the Provincial Board.
In his first and second administrative cases he was charged by his former treasurer Loida Cancino whom he had acrimonious spat before and whom he asked to be relieved and is now assigned at the provincial treasurer’s office.
In a span of few days that he was suspended, Vice Mayor Martin Raul Sison replaced Balolong as mayor in an acting capacity.
But Balolong disputed the substitution of Sison saying he was illegally suspended by the board.
Sison and his mother were political rivals of the Balolongs in the May 2013 municipal election.
Balolong was pitted with Martin’s mother, while Martin and Merle, the wife of Balolong, contested the vice mayoralty post.
Balolong won but his wife lost in that contest.
The late mayor, a party mate of President Benigno C. Aquino III is known to have a close ties with the latter.
He narrated in this paper before that he used to work in the security agency of President Aquino as one of its supervisors in the late 1980s.

Sakop na ba ng China ang Aguilar, Pangasinan?

West Philippine Sea / Scarborough Watch with Delia Competenteviasato

mukhang sakop na yata ng CHINA ang Pangasinan...

isang Chinese National ang namamahala sa iligal na pagmimina sa Sitio Capandanan, Barangay Manlocboc, Aguilar, Pangasinan.

LGU at kapulisan ng Pangasinan, gising! magpakita naman kayo ng malasakit sa ating bayan! huwag kayong magpapasilaw sa suhol ng mga dayuhan...huwag kayong magpaloko!

[admin FVS]
http://www.ptvnews.ph/bottom-news-life2/13-13-regional/33798-chinese-national-seen-directing-illegal-mining-activity-in-pangasinan-town

Chinese national seen directing illegal mining activity in Pangasinan town
Created on Wednesday, 04 June 2014

The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources as well as the regional office of the Bureau of Mines and Geo-Sciences(BGMS) are now investigating the reported illegal mining activity in Sitio Capandanan, Barangay Manlocboc in Aguilar, this province.

The two agencies mobilized their men to verify reports from local residents that several men, reportedly headed by some Chinese nationals, entered the area supposedly to conduct mining operations.

Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Leduina Co denied the reported claim of those undertaking the mining activity that her office issued the corresponding permit as mining is not the concern of her office but of the BGMS.

On the other hand, BGMS Regional director Carlos Tayag said he has sent a team from his office to verify the reported mining activity although he categorically said his office did not issue mining permit whatsoever to any person or company undertaking the mining activity in the area.

As this developed, members of the Samahan ng mga Aguilarenians Para sa Kalikasan expressed opposition to any mining activity in their town as it poses danger to the environment and the eco-system

They said the activity endangers the public forest in Aguilar town.

Suspects in Dagupan Jewelry Store Heist Identified; Case Solved

June 2, 2014, Dagupan City- The group responsible for the BHF Gemline jewelry store heist on May 31, 2014 has been identified. 

Police Superintendent Christopher Abrahano being inter-
viewed by a TV network after 10 gunmen robbed the
BHFJewelry Gemline in the city.

The Ga'ga' robbery hold-up group operating in Metro Manila and nearby provinces has been pinpointed as the criminal gang responsible for the robbery.
Police Superintendent Christopher Abrahano, Chief of Dagupan Philippine National Police, said witnesses positively identified Jomel Montemar Tamalla, Bernad Tolentino  alyas Ogie,and Epharim John Evengelista  alyas Paeng. All have addresses in Metro Manila and are originally from Visayas and Mindanao.

"The suspects were fingered by witnesses from a picture gallery of suspects obtained by Pangasinan PPO’s Provincial Intelligence Branch under the watch of Supt. Rodrigo Castro, Jr. and the Dagupan PNP from our counterparts in the NCRPO and the PNP Intelligence Community, " Abrahano stressed.

The crime  group has been tagged as responsible for several robbery and kidnapping incidents in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Cases of Robbery, Attempted Homicide, and Direct Assault are being prepared for filing against the suspects.

One of the suspects in the heist.

We would like to commend the Security Guards of BHF Gemline for their vigilance and bravery that they showed in the face of adversary and our patrollers as well for the quick response that they provided.

Rest assured that the PNP, the Pangasinan PPO, and the Dagupan City Police will not rest until everybody responsible for this incident would be brought to answer in the bar of justice.