Filipino mayor killed on eve of anniversary

DAGUPAN CITY - Two armed men shot and killed Urbiztondo town Mayor Ernesto Balolong Jr., his police escort and an electrician on Saturday near an area in the town where the mayor was supposed to hold his 25th wedding anniversary party today, Sunday.

Balolong was at the back of the town's convention centre around 8:50 a.m. when armed men in a Toyota Innova drove up and opened fire, police said.

The mayor was inspecting the venue for his wedding anniversary and for the wedding of his son, Urbiztondo Councilor Voltaire Balolong, which were to take place simultaneously.

The gunmen alighted from the Innova and had calmly approached the mayor before they opened fire, according to a witness.

The witness said Balolong managed to scamper away but was felled by another shot. One of the gunmen approached Balolong and shot him at point-blank range, the witness said.

Targets

Police said Balolong and his escort, Police Officer 1 Eliseo Ulanday (not Umanday as earlier reported), were the apparent targets of the attack. Edmund Meneses, a supermarket electrician, was caught in the barrage of the bullets.

The attack also wounded Jose Vigilia, an employee of CSI Supermarket, and Rogelio Esguerra, a soy drink vendor.

Balolong was immediately taken to Elguira General Hospital in San Carlos City. But Dr. Samuel Elguira, owner of the hospital, said the mayor was already dead when he arrived in the hospital about an hour later, 9:55 a.m.

"He had 27 gunshot wounds in his chest, his back and his arms," Elguira said.

Senior Superintendent Sterling Raymund Blanco, Pangasinan provincial director, said investigators found an abandoned dark gray Innova at Barangay Cayaoan Kiling in San Carlos City two hours after the shooting.

LP member

Balolong, a member of the Liberal Party, first served as town councilor in 1998. He ran for vice mayor in 2001 and 2004 and lost in both elections. In 2007, he was elected mayor.

In August 2012, the provincial board slapped Balolong with a 60-day preventive suspension over an administrative complaint filed by a former town treasurer.

In March this year, Balolong was again suspended for 60 days for another administrative case filed against him in the provincial board.

But Malacañang set aside both suspension orders.

A month before he was suspended in 2012, police raided Balolong's house and poultry farm in Urbiztondo and found a cache of firearms. But because the 14 weapons found were all licensed, no charges were filed.

In November last year, National Bureau of Investigation agents raided Balolong's house and farm. The agents were apparently looking for the weapon used in the killing of a Pangasinan politician and his wife in Manila in 2012.

Balolong was arrested and detained at the NBI office in Metro Manila. But after a week, he was released with no charges filed against him.