A FORMER mayor of Dingras , Ilocos Norte wanted for murder was arrested in Calamba City , Laguna.
According to National Capital Region Police Office director Brig. Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr, ex-Mayor Marynette Gamboa was tracked down inside the Kai-Balinese Pool Resort at the Indigo Bay Hot Spring Subdivision in Sucol, Real, Calamba City at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Members of the NCRPO Regional Intelligence Division-Special Operations Group arrested the accused with the help of officers from the Philippine Navy, the Philippine National Police – Special Action Force and the Calamba City Police Station.
“The arrest was made as a result of an intelligence-driven operation we developed thru the help of some concerned citizens,” Nartatez said.
The official said the former mayor has been tagged as the 2nd most wanted person in Ilocos Norte. Judge Felix G. Salvador of the Batac City Regional Trial Court Branch 17 issued a warrant for her arrest, with no bail recommended.
Nartatez said that Gamboa has been tagged as the alleged mastermind in the 2009 killing of Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative president Lorenzo Rey Ruiz, as well as a 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
She was also tagged as the alleged “brains” in a deadly ambush in Dingras, which killed a barangay chairwoman and wounded eight others, including a Provincial Board member, as they were on their way home from a Christmas party in 2009.
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 automatic gunfire by four ski-mask wearing suspects.
Wounded during that attack 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.
Nartatez said that 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.
The accused was placed temporarily under the custody of the NCRPO-RSOG pending the return of the warrant of arrest.
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