EX-FEMALE MAYOR IN ILOCOS NORTE WANTED FOR MURDER NABBED

A FORMER mayor of Dingras, Ilocos Norte wanted for murder was arrested by joint operatives in an operation in Calamba City, Laguna on Saturday, September 30.

National Capital Region Police Office director Brig. Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr. said that ex-Mayor Marynette Gamboa was caught inside the Kai-Balinese Pool Resort at the Indigo Bay Hot Spring Subdivision in Sucol, Real, Calamba City at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

       Operatives of the NCRPO Regional Intelligence Division-Special Operations Group, along with the officers from the Philippine Navy, the Philippine National Police – Special Action Force and the Calamba City Police Station, arrested Gamboa.

        According to Nartatez, the arrest was made as a result of an intelligence-driven operation and with the help of some concerned citizens.

Nartatez said the former mayor has been tagged as the second most wanted person in Ilocos Norte.

Judge Felix G. Salvador of the Batac City Regional Trial Court issued a warrant for her arrest, with no bail recommended.

         The official said that Gamboa has been tagged as the alleged mastermind in the 2009 killing of Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative president Lorenzo Rey Ruiz and the deadly attack on her rival in December 2009.

            Gamboa and three other men were indicted in connection with the killing of Ruiz, who was shot dead while alighting from his vehicle to attend a meeting of INEC officials

        The former mayor was also accused as the alleged “brains” in a deadly ambush in Dingras, which killed a barangay chairwoman and wounded eight others, including a Provincial Board member.

The victims were on their way home from a Christmas party in 2009 when the attack occured.

            Killed in the 2009 attack was Jo-en Caniete, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, after she and her fellows who were in four vehicles were strafed with bullets.

           The wounded were Jeoffrey Saguid, a Nationalista Party mayoralty bet who was then running against incumbent Mayor Gamboa, Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Robert Castro, Dingras Sangguniang Bayan member Jimboy Albano, as well as three policemen, and two other civilians escorting them.

            Saguid was then already the mayor-elect when he and his fellows were shot.

            A record check showed that Gamboa was released from the Batac City jail two weeks after she was arrested in connection with the cases filed against her.

            The release was made after Judge Salvador lifted the warrant of arrest he issued against Gamboa on May 30, 2019 citing her pending motion for reconsideration.

            However, after three years, Gamboa’s appeal was rejected by the court and Judge Salvador again issued a warrant for her arrest without bail on July 11, 2022.