2 more charged in Pangasinan town mayor’s slay

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines—Police have filed murder and frustrated murder cases against two more men in connection with the killing of Mayor Ernesto Balolong Jr. of Urbiztondo town, Pangasinan province, last month.

In a press statement, Chief Insp. Ryan Manongdo, provincial police spokesman, identified the suspects as Ramil Santos and Eduardo Nicolas, both from Malabon City in Metro Manila. The two have yet to be arrested.

Manongdo said witnesses identified Santos and Nicolas as the persons who rented the car and the apartment unit that the gunmen used in carrying out their mission to kill Balolong.

The cases were filed at the San Carlos City Prosecutor’s Office on July 2.

Balolong and his police bodyguard, PO1 Eliseo Ulanday, and an electrician were killed in an attack by armed men at the back of the town’s convention center on June 7.–Gabriel Cardinoza