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Quiet funeral for murdered Abra mayor

BAGUIO CITY (Jan. 26) — Former mayor Ysrael Bernos, 30, was laid to rest on Thursday noon in his hometown in La Paz, Abra. He was gunned down on January 13 before La Paz townsfolk.

Sans messages printed on placards and “abrasive” statements from Benwaren’s kin who pointed at Governor Vicente Valera as the mastermind of the killing. Bernos’ funeral rites was “superficially quiet”.

The Bernos funeral was not in anyway akin to the funeral march cum demonstration three years ago of Tineg town mayor Clarence Benwaren in Bangued, the capital town of Abra.

However, questions on his gruesome murder still keep bothering both his kin and authorities, almost two weeks after he was gunned down right before his townspeople by alleged “hired-killers”.

True enough to the mayor’s widow consternation just after Bernos was killed, her husband’s killing might just add up to statistics to numerous political killings in the country.  Joy, who also comes from a political family, believes “dirty politics” killed her husband.

She believes possible foes in the coming polls might have planned to “silence Bernos”, a possible gubernatorial timber in the next elections as he is ending his third term.

In simple rites attended by the Bernos clan, perhaps the most powerful political clan still in La Paz close family friends, some town mayors in Abra and Bernos’ close friend Board Member Ronald Singson in nearby Ilocos Sur, the slain mayor’s casket was brought from their house to the catholic Queen of Peace Church.

Rev. Nilo Peig together with four other priests co-concelebrated the mass at the church before Bernos was brought to the town’s public cemetery.

“The mayor’s funeral could have been longer as he was supposed to be brought to the town hall but the drizzle waylaid the plan,” said Ricky Nibaten, the mayor’s cousin and confidante said in a telephone interview.

“Still In the Dark?”

Moreover, as admitted earlier by the PNP national leadership that the Bernos slaying is like looking for “a needle in the haystack.” The elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Cordillera (CIDG-CAR) tasked to lead in the probe also admit they are “lost in the dark”.

Although earlier, CIDG-CAR regional chief Sr. Supt. Marvin Bolabola said the nearest possible cause of the killing is either “warlord politics” or that of a personal angle.

Bolabola added that they are keener to probe politics more than personal angle as the motivation.

Bolabola lamented that with the complicated situation looked into by the probers, family members have their own theories too. However, he refuses to elaborate. # Ace Alegre for NORDIS

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