ILIGAN CITY (March 22) —- Four soldiers from the Army’s 1st Infantry Division (1ID) were charged frustrated murder and for violating the election gun ban, for allegedly shooting former Dumigang Mayor Nacianceno Pacalioga Jr. Wednesday morning in Barangay Esperanza, Bacolod, Lanao del Norte.
The four suspects were arrested at a police checkpoint in Bacolod, several minutes after the shooting of Pacalioga Jr.
Police Captain Omar Tago, chief of Bacolod Municipal Police Station, witnesses identified the suspects who transferred to a black hi-lux, waiting in a distance, after firing at Pacalioga.
Tago did not divulge the names of the soldiers The four suspects.
In a phone interview, Army Captain Clint Antipala, Acting Division Public Affairs Officer of the Ist Infantry Division said , the unit is also conducting parallel investigation, in coordination with the police.
The 1st Infantry Division is based in Labangan town, Lanao del Norte.
Pacalioga, 57, was shot several times while urinating in a grassy area. He sustained gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body, including in his private part he is still recuperating in a hospital in Iligan City.
He was on his way to Zamboanga del Sur from Iligan City when the incident happened.
Antipala said the Philippine Army remains a professional organization and it has control over its troops.
“We pledge to give due process in the conduct of a proper investigation. Erring Army personnel will be dealt with accordingly with the full force of our military justice system,” Antipala added.
Pacalioga served as mayor of Dumingag town from 2007 to 2016 and as town vice mayor in 2016. He was dismissed from his post in 2017 by the Office of the Ombudsman for deliberately omitting several properties from his 2011, 2012, and 2014 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs).
He was charged with “Falsification of Official Document and Serious Dishonesty” for not declaring 10 parcels of land located in different barangays in Dumingag town.
Pacalioga was indicted with three counts of perjury and three counts of violation of Section 8 in relation to Section 11 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (Republic Act No. 6713). -Divina M. Suson/NewsLIne.ph
