P500,000 reward for clue to Cagayan vice mayor’s killer

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines — Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba put up a P500,000 reward for information that would help shed light on the Aug. 5 murder of Pamplona Vice Mayor Aaron Sampaga, who was buried on Saturday.

Mamba ordered his chief of staff Charo Mamba-Villaflor to set aside money for the reward during the funeral of 39-year-old Sampaga, who was shot by motorcycle-riding gunmen at 11:20 p.m. inside the house of a close friend in Masi village.

Mamba deplored the slow pace of the investigation.

Senior Insp. Francis Pattad, Pamplona police chief, said the gunmen used an M-16 rifle and a handgun in the attack. Pattad said the suspects drove their motorcycle through a makeshift road to enter the compound of Sampaga’s friend, Rodolfo Guzman, who was hurt in the attack.

Sampaga had completed three terms as Pamplona mayor before running and winning as vice mayor in the May 9 polls. His sister, Arnie Angelica Sampaga, succeeded him as mayor./rga