MANILA, 17 December 2006 — A lawmaker from the northern Philippines and his security escort were shot dead yesterday as he stepped out of a church in Manila’s suburb of Quezon City.
Police said Rep. Luis Bersamin Jr. of Abra province had just come out of the Mount Carmel Church in the affluent New Manila District at past 5 p.m. when two gunmen fired on him and a bodyguard as he was about to board his van.
Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula, chief of the Quezon City police, quoted witnesses as saying one gunman first fired at Bersamin’s escort, Senior Police Officer 1 Adelfo Ortega, before shooting the lawmaker.
Allan Sawadan, who served both as driver and bodyguard of Bersamin, traded fire with the suspects and was hit by a bullet on the leg, said Gatdula.
Police said a 13-year-old boy was also hit by a stray bullet and taken to St. Luke Medical Center nearby.
In a radio interview, Sawadan said Bersamin was a sponsor at the wedding of his niece, Pia, daughter of his younger brother, Justice Lucas Bersamin.
“Palapit na si congressman sa sasakyan nang bigla siyang barilin. Napuruhan siya sa ulo(The congressman was approaching the van when a gunman fired at him. He got hit in the head,” he said on DZBB radio.
Alvin Salonga, a guest at the wedding, said people were going out of the church when he heard gunshots.
“We then saw (the gunmen) running. There were two of them. They escaped on board a motorcycle,” he said.
Gatdula said Bersamin was shot twice in the head and that 10 empty .45 caliber shells were recovered from the crime scene.
Gatdula said the killers escaped on a motorcycle, which was later found abandoned on Aurora Boulevard corner Balete Drive, several blocks away from the church.
National police chief Director General Oscar Calderon ordered the creation of a task force to go after the killers.
Police said they were looking into the possibility that the murder of the 62-year-old congressman has anything to do with his being vice chairman of both the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs and the Committee on Trade and Industry.
Bersamin’s murder came days after a bomb attack on Pasig Rep. Robert “Dudut” Jaworksi Jr. The young lawmaker narrowly escaped the car bombing, which is being linked to his supposed campaign against drug trafficking in Manila’s eastern suburb.
The attack also came in the wake of claims by officials of an alleged plot to assassinate Rep. Prospero Nograles, majority leader of the House of Representatives.
The National Bureau of Investigation said it uncovered a plot to kill Nograles during a Christmas party he was to attend last week in the southern city of Davao.
Nograles told reporters he had no idea who could have been involved in the alleged plot.
Jaworski, known for campaigning against illegal drugs, said he was able to get out of his car moments after hearing a popping sound followed by smoke coming from under the vehicle Tuesday. Seconds later a powerful explosion ripped through the car, igniting a fire that gutted it. Police said they found traces of high explosives in the wreck. No group has claimed responsibility and police have no immediate suspects.
All three congressmen are members of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s ruling coalition.
Abra Politics
Investigators, however, said they are also looking into other angles, such as politics in Abra, a province notorious for political assassinations. In October, Abra provincial board member James Bersamin,a 66-year-old relative of the lawmaker, was shot dead while he was jogging at a plaza in Bangued, capital of Abra. Congressman Bersamin was the third high official from Abra to be assassinated this year.
La Paz Mayor Mar Ysrael Bernos was killed earlier this year as the town plaza. Bersamin was serving his second term in Congress. Before then, he served as vice governor of the province from 1998 to 2001 and mayor of Bangued from 1987 to 1998. (With input from Inquirer News Service & Agencies)
