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RODRIGUEZ, Rizal: Squabbling supporters of suspended
mayor Pedro Cuerpo and acting mayor Jonas Cruz early Monday morning
at the municipal hall resulted to a shooting incident that left two
municipal employees wounded.
Rodriguez Chief of Police, Supt. Emmanuel Bautista identified
the victims as Delia San Jose, who suffered a gunshot wound in the
shoulder, and Noli Santos who sustained a chest wound.
Both are residents of this
municipality and were rushed to the nearest hospital.
Bautista identified the suspects
in the apparent shooting incident as Catanor Tangumay and Bong Meldo,
said to be bodyguards of Mayor Pedro Cuerpo. Investigators said the
two were connected with the Muslim Islamic Affairs Office in the
municipality.
Initial reports showed that
Cuerpo and his supporters barged into the town hall at around 9:45
a.m., although the beleaguered mayor noted that armed men had
blocked residents from attending a public hearing on the controversy
involving the town’s landfill.
During the said incident, the
bodyguards of Cuerpo had allegedly fired shots when they met
resistance on the second floor of the building where acting mayor
Jonas Cruz holds office.
Cuerpo initially denied
allegations that his bodyguards shot the victims, adding that he was
willing to have them tested for paraffin. Instead, he insisted it
was a bodyguard of Cruz whose hostile actuations triggered the
violent confrontation. He explained that the acting mayor’s
security strangled his bodyguard and even pointed a gun in his
head, which was before his own security came to the rescue.
Cuerpo added that should the two
test positive for paraffin he would be the first to file charges
against them. Earlier, he claimed that it was a former policeman who
is now a bodyguard of acting Mayor Jonas Cruz who had fired the gun.
The Rodriguez Mayor earlier
earned a suspension following a standoff with Rizal Governor
Casimiro Ynares III over the control of the landfills in Rodriguez
town.
The struggle had raised fears of
a garbage crisis for Metro Manila.
 --James
Konstantin Galvez And Francis Earl Cueto
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