Another Isabela town bet killed, a day after vice mayor’s murder

JONES, Isabela – A candidate for councilor was shot to dead while a companion was hurt by an unidentified gunman in San Isidro village at 8:30 pm here on Thursday (April 14), a day after communist rebels killed Jones Vice Mayor Ronaldo Lucas, police said.

Heinrich Apostol, San Isidro village chief and Nationalist People’s Coalition candidate for town councilor, died from a head wound. Jimmy Balmilero, village chief of Dicamay Uno, is being treated  at the Prospero Bello Hospital for a bullet wound on his right foot.

Apostol was described as an ally of Lucas, who was killed by alleged communist rebels on April 13 after the armed group detained him, a councilor and an employee while Lucas and his group were on a campaign sortie at the villages of Dicamay 1 and Dicamay 2, two far-flung villages which have been lairs of New People’s Army rebels.

READ: Isabela vice mayor shot dead by NPA rebels—police

Army Capt. Edelbert Mendoza, 86th Infantry Battalion operations officer, said they did not know that Lucas had gone to these communities, where sightings of NPA rebels have been reported.

Lucas was serving the remaining term of the late Vice Mayor Florante Raspado who was killed inside the town hall in April last year. CDG