CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga––Voters in this Pampanga capital have elected a woman who substituted for her husband, who was murdered before the elections.
Rosalie Mendoza garnered 79,001 votes, just behind top councilor Brenz Gonzales in the 10-seat local legislative body.
She ran under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan in a field of 29 mostly male candidates.
The P800,000-reward put up by Gov. Dennis Pineda since the April 30 ambush of Alasas Barangay Capt. Alvin Mendoza remained intact, although the sketch of the gunman has been widely distributed, according to Col. Alvin Consolacion, provincial police chief, in a phone interview on Tuesday.
This happened as investigators continued to check on the veracity of data given by informants, he explained.
Consolacion said several angles on the killing have cropped up, but nothing was certain yet.
Two hitmen on separate motorcycles assassinated around 7 a.m. the village chief as he drove his car at the boundary of Bacolor and San Fernando.
Consolacion said Rosalie had declined the police request for probers to check Alvin’s mobile phone for possible clues.
“I assured her that messages not related to the killing would stay confidential, but she did not grant the probers’ request,” Consolacion said.
A close relative of Alvin confirmed this but would not state the reason for Rosalie’s non-cooperation.
The same relative said Rosalie was taking a crash course on the tasks of councilors so she could implement Alvin’s platform on health, social services, and education.
The village chief was multi-awarded for good governance, transparency, and solid waste management.