Bais City Mayor Hector Villanueva vehemently denied insinuations that he masterminded the ambush-slay of five victims and the wounding of two others Tuesday night in Barangay Biñohon in Bais.

The victims had just came from a preliminary investigation on the killing of SPO1 Richard Teves and his son Junior last month.

Reports point to police officers as the culprits of the recent shooting, alluding to the mayor as the person behind it.

Villanueva, however said such accusations are politically-motivated.

He said he would not deny the fact that SPO1 Teves was his bodyguard six months before his new assignment as intelligence officer.

Villanueva said he would have taken the law into his hands when he himself was ambushed and shot in 1997 that almost caused his life, when he was aware of who the perpetrators are.

But he said he prefers not to follow the law of the jungle.

In the recent ambush, Villanueva said his conscience is clear in calling for sobriety among Baisanons. "I hope they will not make my day," Villanueva pointed out in responding to threats of reprisal and revenge by the group.

On Thursday, he asked the city council to allocate P100,000 as reward money to anybody who can give information about the identities of the killers.

Last month, P100,000 was also put up for the information on the identities of SPO1 Teves' assassins, he said.

Villanueva said the Bais police is still facing a blank wall on the recent ambush, but investigators are working on different angles. Records show that one of the victims, Le Durango, was among those identified in the hold-up robbery of an American national in Dumaguete a week ago.

He is also a suspect in the Rural Bank robbery in Bais eight years ago, a case SPO1 Teves was investigating. The group was also linked to a string of cases in Manjuyod and Mabinay, Villanueva said.

The mayor confirmed that Bais is on red alert, not because of the Durango incident, but because of the proximity of Oriental Negros to Cebu where the ASEAN Summit is forthcoming.

Meanwhile, the number of casualties in the recent ambush has risen to five with the death of Aime Lecciones in the hospital. Two others, namely, Ramon Cadiz and Eve Bacay are still recuperating.

Also killed on the spot were Conrado delos Santos, Alice Cadiz, Le Durango and Zuelo Bacay.*JG

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