Ten people, including a town mayor, four policemen and relatives, who were accused of killing a barangay chair and his wife in Batangas province in February had been charged with double murder and double frustrated murder in the Department of Justice.
Based on the information filed in the Department of Justice by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Batangas, charged were Laurel Mayor Randy James Amo, PO2 Rolando Cabrera Rodriguez Jr., PO3 Michael Grafil Rebato, PO3 Danilo Vingua Salvatierra Jr., Benjamin Landicho, Reynold Amo, Montano Genil, Mark Amo, Rolando Rodriguez Sr. and Rene Talay.
The filing of the case was based on the statement of a supposed witness, who claimed that he was privy to the plan to ambush barangay leader Nestor Rodriguez and his wife Rosalina, an elementary school principal.
Two bystanders were injured after a grenade exploded inside the pickup being driven by the slain barangay leader.
A police report said two men riding a motorcycle lobbed a grenade at the couple’s vehicle, with license plate DSL 276, while it was on the road in Barangay Gulod, Laurel town, on the evening of Feb. 28.
The Rodriguez couple, police said, along with brothers Jimmy and Maximo Sarmiento, had come from a meeting at the slain mayor’s house when the attack took place.
The Sarmiento brothers survived the ambush but suffered injuries that resulted in amputation.
Two witnesses, who include a son of the slain couple, tagged the mayor the mastermind of the ambush.
The CIDG quoted one of the witnesses as saying that he saw Mark, a relative of the mayor, driving the motorcycle and one of the accused policemen, Rodriguez Jr., throwing the grenade at the vehicle of the victims.