P500,000 bounty offered for arrest of gunman in Bersamin slay

LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET – Relatives and friends of slain Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin Jr are offering a P500,000 bounty for information that would lead to the arrest of an alleged gunman in the December 2006 assassination, authorities on Tuesday said. Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, Cordillera police director, said family and friends of the slain politician raised the bounty for the arrest of Gerry Turqueza who is tagged as one of the gunmen in the slay. Martin said this development came in the heels of the arrest of former La Paz town vice mayor Freddie Duppo and Sonny Taculao – two primary suspects in the case – two weeks ago in Rizal province. “Wanting that the dastardly act be solved, they are offering to give half a million reward to who ever will be able to provide information that will lead to the arrest of Gerry Turqueza, allegedly one of the gunmen in the assassination," Martin said. Martin said Turqueza is allegedly being hidden by a politician in a remote mountain Abra town. Turqueza is also involved in several other murder cases, and was in fact identified as a prime suspect in the killing of La Paz Mayor Ysrael Marc Bernos in 2005. The official added that Duppo and Taculao confessed that a former rebel leader and a brother of one of Abra’s congressional candidates as those who contacted them to carry out the assassination. - GMANews.TV