Cops eye ‘hot spot’ tags on 2 towns in La Union

DAGUPAN CITY—Police in Ilocos said they planned to have the towns of Tubao and Agoo in La Union declared as areas of concern following the murder of a candidate for board member in the province’s second district this week.

Senior Supt. Lito Dumagen, chief of the regional police’s operations and plans division, said a special investigation task group has yet to establish the motive behind the murder of lawyer Lazaro Gayo, the former vice mayor of Tubao town. Gayo, who was shot by a lone gunman at his law office in Agoo on Monday, died in a hospital in San Fernando City on Tuesday.

Dumagen said even if it was proven that politics was not behind Gayo’s murder, the two towns would be declared as areas of concern. More policemen from the Regional Safety Battalion have been sent there, he said.

Dumagen said police are closely monitoring the second district of La Union, where reelectionist Rep. Eufranio Eriguel is being challenged by former Rep. Thomas Dumpit Jr., because of the intense rivalry between the two camps.

He said the police do not expect problems or violence to erupt in the first district of the province, where most mayoral candidates are running unopposed.

In Ilocos Norte, a former New People’s Army rebel was killed while another was wounded during a clash between government troops and armed men in Barangay Cabuosan in Currimao town on Tuesday night.

Senior Supt. Marlou Chan, provincial police director, said Carlo Magbulos died during the encounter while Ronald Grante, 47, was wounded and taken to a hospital. Chan said Magbulos surrendered to the government in 2008.

Government troops went to Cabuosan at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday after receiving reports that armed men were in the area. Yolanda Sotelo and Cristina Arzadon, Inquirer Northern Luzon