Residents mourn as murdered mayor returns to Isabela town

CAUAYAN CITY—The daughter of murdered Maconacon Mayor Erlinda Mora-Domingo is being groomed to take her mother’s place as mayoral candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, according to Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy III.

Dy said Liezl Kate Domingo would be a good replacement “so that the legacy of her mother as a model public servant” would be sustained.

Domingo, 51, was shot in the head on Tuesday as she was getting out of her Mitsubishi Adventure outside Park Ville Apartelle in Quezon City. Her driver, Bernard Plasos, was also shot and wounded.

Police arrested two men and a woman for the murder. They were Christian Pajenado, Michael Domingo and Mary Grace Abduhadi, who were arrested in separate operations.

Abduhadi is said to be the wife of the prime suspect, Marsibal Abduhadi, who is at large.

The body of Domingo arrived in a flag-draped brown casket at the airport here on Thursday.

Friends went to Our Lady of the Pillar Church here, where Domingo’s remains were taken, to pay their respects. The body was to be flown yesterday to Maconacon.

Police theorized that Domingo, a reelectionist, was targeted because of the coming midterm elections.

But Senior Supt. Franklin Moises Mabanag, Isabela police director, said they have not invited for questioning Domingo’s only opponent, Walter “Wally” Villanueva.

“The fact that he (Villanueva) is a Muslim and one of the suspected killers is a Muslim does not mean that he is already behind the killing. This is mere speculation,” Mabanag told reporters here.

Villanueva may voluntarily approach the police to clear himself “but the police will not call him for questioning as of this time,” Mabanag said.

Gloria Bumagat, a Maconacon villager, said Domingo was a generous person. “We love her very much. She was very kind to us. As I see it, politics is behind the killing,” she said. Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon