Politics, drugs seen in Cagayan ambush

TUGUEGARAO CITY—Police on Tuesday formed a special task group to solve within 72 hours the killing of two former mayors in Lasam town as investigators look into politics and drugs as possible motives in the attack.

Police Col. Ariel Quilang, Cagayan police director, said the group would carry out “deeper investigation” into the killing of Marjorie Salazar, 63, and Eduardo Asuten, 67, and their two aides. Salazar and Asuten were serving as municipal councilors at the time of the attack. The other victims were identified as Salazar’s driver, John Rey Apil, and secretary, Aiza Manuel.

Citing witnesses’ accounts, police said the gunmen waylaid the officials in Barangay Ignacio B. Jurado, also in Lasam, at 11:30 a.m. Monday, and fled in two cars—a blue Hyundai Accent and white Toyota Wigo. The officials came from the municipal hall and were heading home.

Police protection

Quilang said investigators pointed to a possible political rift and Salazar’s alleged link to the illegal drug trade as reasons behind the murder. Salazar was included in President Duterte’s lists of narcopoliticians in 2016 and in 2019, when she was serving as mayor. She reportedly belied the accusations and sought police protection.

Quilang said the police would also look into allegations that the communist New People’s Army (NPA) could have been responsible for the ambush. Bienvenido Magalat, spokesperson for the NPA’s Cagayan front, denied any involvement and instead blamed the military.

“[This] is against the principle and discipline of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA,” Magalat told the Inquirer in a text message. “Even those with blood debts to the revolutionary [movement] are not being killed in a hail of bullets.”

Maj. Jekyll Dulawan, 5th Infantry Division spokesperson, dismissed the NPA’s claim, saying “the Army will never kill fellow public servants.”

Dulawan said the police retrieved communist pamphlets near the crime scene, which he said “bolstered the possibility” that the rebels staged the ambush. “Meanwhile, let us wait for the police [to release the results of] their final investigation,” he said. —VILLAMOR VISAYA JR. INQ