Contributed Photo via Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Police are now looking into several motives to shed light on the killing of a barangay councilor in San Fernando town and her husband last February 13.
The Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) said some of the angles they are pursuing in solving the case included business, personal, and politics.
Police Col. Engelbert Soriano, CPPO director, confirmed that Ma. Louela Dela Cerna Baringui-an was running for town councilor in the May 9, 2022 polls.
Baringui-an, 45, was an incumbent barangay councilor of Balungag. She and her husband, Pedro, were killed in their residence in Sitio Tapok-Tapok, Barangay Panadtaran.
Police are yet to identify the couple’s killers. Witnesses told investigators there were five of them, their faces covered in bonnets and they were equipped with high-powered firearms.
Election-Related?
Based on the Certified List of Candidates from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Baringui-an is among the 22 bets seeking to get a seat in San Fernando’s legislative body.
She is running under the Nacionalista Party together with incumbent Mayor Neneth Reluya.
San Fernando is a second-class municipality located approximately 38 kilometers south of Cebu City.
It is widely considered by authorities an “area of concern” due to rampant killings that mostly involved public officials and high-profile individuals.
READ: A year after ambush, Reluya says threats continue
The Baringui-an couple was the latest.
But for the police, they cannot conclude yet if the killings last February 13 were related to the upcoming May 2022 elections.
Soriano also said they cannot recommend, at this point, to include San Fernando in the ‘Election Watchlist Areas’ (EWAs).
However, he added that they will factor in the previous killings linking to this southeastern town during the evaluation of election hotspots.
“We will leave that to the Comelec (in possibly putting San Fernando in the EWAs). The police can only make recommendations which will base on the outcome of our investigation,” explained Soriano.
San Fernando Killings
Based on CDN’s archives, the spate of killings that claimed the lives of several public officials from San Fernando began in 2018, a year before the 2019 Midterm Elections took place.
Those who died included former Councilors Alexander Alicaway, Rene Boy Dacalos, Magsico Barangay Captain Johnny Arriesgado, and the husband of the current mayor, Nonoy Reluya.
Nonoy died, along with two of the mayor’s staff members, when their vehicle was ambushed along N. Bacalso Avenue in Barangay Linao, Talisay last January 2019. The mayor survived the ordeal.
Two years later or in 2021, another high-profile individual from San Fernando town, businessman Ruben Feliciano, was killed outside his house in Barangay. Apas, Cebu City.
READ: Ex-mayoral candidate is first shooting victim of 2021 in Cebu City
Feliciano was among those suspected in the ambush of the Reluyas. He cooperated with the investigation and even submitted himself to the police to clear his name days after the incident.
He firmly denied the allegations and up to this day, his alleged connection to the ambush remains unproven.
On the other hand, investigators are also probing deeper into the background of the Baringui-an couple, including their alleged ties in online sabong and pending frustrated murder charges.
“We’re still reviewing and verifying these reports,” Soriano added.
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/ dcb