TWELVE bodyguards of re-electionist Pilar, Abra Vice Mayor Jaja Josefina Disono surrendered to authorities last Wednesday, more than 24 hours after ignoring a police checkpoint and opening fire on pursuing policemen.
The surrender ended a standoff between the Disono camp and policemen who cordoned off the vice mayor’s residential compound in Pilar where the bodyguards, onboard a van, fled after the shootout last Tuesday morning.
Police negotiated the surrender of the bodyguards of Disono and their firearms, but initial negotiations fell apart on Wednesday morning. The negotiations resumed on Wednesday afternoon, leading to a breakthrough.
Last Tuesday morning, policemen from the Pilar PNP and Regional Mobile Force Battalion 15 manning a checkpoint in Barangay Poblacion flagged down an approaching van. Instead of stopping, the van sped off, hitting and injuring two policemen in the process.
The van’s occupants, Disono’s bodyguards, opened fire on the pursuing policemen, hitting a police vehicle.
Disono earlier said she was on another van at the time of the incident. She said policemen allowed her van to pass the checkpoint but her bodyguards on the other vehicle were told to alight.
Disono said her bodyguards did not stop, prompting the policemen to open fire. She said one of her bodyguards, Sandee Boy Bermudo, was killed in the shootout, which was later confirmed by police officials.
“We were able to convince some of the private security personnel of the vice mayor to surrender, 12 of them surrendered,” Abra provincial police spokesman Maj. Edwin Sergio said yesterday.
The 12 were brought to a PNP facility in Abra and are now facing investigation preparatory to filing of charges.
Police said Disono also agreed to surrender 14 assorted firearms, some of which are believed to have been used by her bodyguards in the shootout.
The firearms are registered to Disono and her husband.
“Vice Mayor Disono, after much deliberation, was able to realize it’s better to surrender these firearms to also clear her name. She’s disturbed, she’s shaken, she heard the gunfire,” said Furton.
Abra provincial police chief Col. Maly Cula said the incident was an isolated one and would not affect the whole province in terms of the holding of the coming national and local elections.
“Pilar is only one of the 27 towns of Abra. It’s only in Pilar where an armed encounter occurred,” said Cula.
