Dinagat board member gunned down, Bag-ao calls for justice
Credit to Author: hniitsu| Date: Sun, 07 Jul 2019 06:34:55 +0000
SURIGAO CITY, Surigao del Norte—A provincial board member of Dinagat Island province was gunned down in this city on Sunday (July 7).
Wenefredo Diofernes, 52, who won a second term as Dinagat board member in the May 13 midterm elections, was driving a motorcycle on Kilometer 2 at the village of Luna around 9:18 a.m. when he was shot by two motorcycle-riding men.
Diofernes was on his way home at the same village.
A report of the Caraga police said Diofernes was rushed to the Caraga Regional Hospital but did not make it there alive.
Dinagat Gov. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao, who pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the May 13 elections by defeating the powerful Ecleo dynasty, condemned the killing.
Bag-ao, citing a police report, said Diofernes had no bodyguard “when this despicable act happened.”
Bag-ao, a human rights lawyer, said she was in contact with the regional and Surigao City police to offer help in the investigation and “to put into light all the facts surrounding” the killing of Diofernes.
She expressed condolence to Diofernes’ loved ones. “We lost a good leader today,” Bag-ao added.
Bag-ao said Diofernes ran as an independent candidate but still emerged on top of the race for board member in the first district of Dinagat, a province long under the reign of the Ecleo clan which founded the powerful group Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association or PBMA.
“I, together with the provincial government and each and every Dinagatnon, call for justice,” Bag-ao said. (Editor: Tony Bergonia)