Monday, December 04, 2006 Ex-Army to sue Estancia dad By Jay Dooma Balnig
RETIRED General Restituto Mosqueda is preparing to file criminal charges against Estancia Mayor Rene Cordero for implicating his name in Friday's broad daylight shooting incident.
In an Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo interview, Mosqueda, who openly declared that he is running for mayor against Cordero, said that the mayor has no basis for dragging his name in the incident.
Last Friday noon, a radio blocktimer of Cordero, Arnie Fullion, was shot while riding his motorcycle along Reyes Street in front of the Radio Natin Community Radio Station of Manila Broadcasting Company.
Two suspects onboard a motorcycle immediately fled passing the Barangay Lumbia shortcut after the shooting.
Municipal Board Member Butching Aclaro, who was riding behind Fullion, was hit at the neck.
Both victims were declared out of danger, according to the Estancia police.
Several minutes after the shooting, Cordero said that Mosqueda is behind the killing attempt.
But police dismissed Cordero's claims, saying that a personal grudge may be the motive behind the attempt. They said Fullion earned enemies during his stint as market inspector of the town.
Previously, Fullion was shot over the market system, but he survived.
In a separate interview, Cordero said that since Mosqueda signified his intention to run for mayor, the latter has created a lot of trouble.
But Mosqueda denied Cordero's allegations, saying that the latter is incompetent in imposing peace and order in his town, thus many criminalities happened during his term. He added that some residents were intimidated of him because of his armed men.
"This is political harassment on our part because Fullion and Aclaro are my men and supporters," Cordero said.
Meanwhile, Mosqueda told the Estancia police to run after the persons responsible. He said he condemns the act and considers it the highest form of terrorism because it creates fear among the people of the town.
The police are still facing a blank wall on the identity of the assailant. (JDB with reports from Ruby P. Silubrico)
