DAGUPAN CITY -- A former town vice mayor and his wife survived an ambush attempt early evening of Friday along the national road at Barangay Bies in Binmaley, reports said.
The incident happened around 6:30 p.m. while former Lingayen vice mayor Ramon Arcinue and his wife Zorahyda, who is the captain of Barangay Poblacion in Lingayen, were on-board their vehicle on the way home from Dagupan City.
The couple was rushed to a private hospital in this city by a person who saw the shooting incident. They were declared out-of-danger by the attending physicians. It was not known if they sustained bullet wounds.
The former vice mayor's older brother, Roberto, thanked the person who helped the victims.
Governor Amado Espino Jr., upon learning about the ambush incident, immediately rushed to the hospital.
Dagupan City Mayor Benjie Lim, his son Councilor Bryan Lim and Lingayen Mayor Ernesto Castaneda also rushed to the hospital to check on the victims.
Espino and the Arcinues then decided to offer reward money for any information that could help resolve the case.
In an interview over Aksyon Radyo Pangasinan on Saturday, Espino said the Provincial Government is offering P200,000, while the Arcinue family is shelling out additional P300,000 as reward money.
Espino also announced that he had directed the Pangasinan Police Provincial Director Rosueto Ricaforte to conduct checkpoints and to stop all helmet-wearing motorcycle riders, ask their names and addresses.
The said directive was also issued to all barangay captains in the province.
"Such incidents could affect the image of the province. Sinasabi ko noon pa that Pangasinan is the safest place to live in. Hinihingi ko sa ating mga kababayan, magtulungan tayo," he said.
The witness who helped the victims told police investigators that he was driving a truck from the opposite direction when he saw the motorcycle-riding suspects overtook the car. The back rider then shot the victims.
He said he parked his truck and checked on the Arcinues. He tried to flag down passing vehicles but none stopped, thus he decided to bring the victims to the hospital.
The witness said he helped the former vice mayor first transfer to the backseat, then the wife next. After which, he drove the car with the couple giving him instructions as to where to bring them. (Liway C. Manantan-Yparraguirre/Sunnex)
