MEXICO -- A bodyguard of a councilor in this town was arrested by police operatives on Sunday morning for alleged illegal possession of a handgun.
Arrested by intelligence agents was Reynaldo Tiglao, 34, of Purok 1, Pulung Maragul, Angeles City. Tiglao admitted to police he was an aide of Municipal Councilor Rudencio “Ruding” Gonzales.
In their report to town police chief Ferdinand Perez, intelligence operatives Reynaldo Guitierrez II, Roberto Puebla and Jefferson Yutuc said they were monitoring and conducting surveillance operations on the series of robbery hold-ups occurring in the area when they noticed a man clad in camouflage pants and white T-shirt who was acting suspiciously.
The suspect was with a group of men and women described by police as “if there was an on-going occasion” as they were under a mango tree.
The report noted that when operatives asked about what was “bulging” on his waist, the suspect did not reply but instead pushed the hand of Puebla and tried to pull out something from his waist. It turned out to be a Taurus PT 1911 caliber .45 pistol with a magazine and live ammunition.
The suspect alleged that the handgun, with serial number NCS 90338, belonged to Gonzales, a councilor of the town residing at Sitio Baritan in Barangay San Miguel of this town.
The suspect is now in the custody of the Mexico police pending filing of charges in court.
Meanwhile, Gonzales said the arrest of his body guard was allegedly a form of political harassment since he supported defeated presidential aspirant Gilbert Teodoro and not Manny Villar whom Mayor Teddy Tumang supported in the last polls.
He said he was a sponsor in a baptism and asked his aide to safekeep the gun during the ceremonies.
In a separate interview however, Tumang denied the allegations and told Sun.Star Pampanga that he was just informed about the arrest and had nothing to do with it. (Marlon P. Beltran/Chris Navarro)