Ecija cops won’t nab vice mayor’s brother in engineer’s slay

CARRANGLAN, Nueva Ecija—Police are looking at a land dispute as a possible motive behind the shooting and killing of an engineer allegedly by the brother of this town’s vice mayor in Barangay Joson on Sunday.

Senior Insp. Joseph Sta. Cruz, town police chief, said Alexander Mejia, 67, also a businessman, was surveying a parcel of land in Sitio Pulo with Mario Faustino, a geodetic engineer, and Geminiano Lozano at about 5 p.m. when Erwin Alfonso, brother of Vice Mayor Efren Alfonso Jr., arrived and confronted the group.

Land grab

According to Sta. Cruz, there was a heated argument between Mejia and Alfonso that led to Alfonso shooting Mejia with a handgun. Police, however, have yet to arrest Alfonso.

Chana Mejia-Lopez, the victim’s sister, said her brother was trying to recover his property in this town, which he left a few years ago when he went abroad to attend to a business venture.

“It was my brother’s land, which Alfonso possessed without notice,” Lopez said.

The Inquirer on Wednesday tried to reach Alfonso through Vice Mayor Alfonso but police officials said the vice mayor was not yet ready to talk to reporters regarding the issue.

Influential

Sta. Cruz said the provincial police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group has joined the investigation on Wednesday and started collecting pieces of evidence and statements so they could file a case against

Alfonso.

Lopez asked the police to ensure the safety of Faustino

and Lozano, the witnesses in the case, because of the perceived influence of the suspect’s family.

“They fear for their lives because the suspect is very influential,” she said.

Sta. Cruz said he has assigned policemen to secure the witnesses. Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon