BONTOC, Mountain Province– The provincial board unanimously approved a resolution condemning in the highest form the brutal murder of barangay kagawad Salvador G. Liked of Balintaugan, Bauko town and to urge those who have knowledge of his assassination to cooperate with the proper authorities for the speedy solution of the high profile case that transpired in the province.
Resolution No. 2020-403 stated that the people and officialdom of the province is saddened by the untimely demise of one of the active barangay officials of Mountain Province, Salvador G. Liked, who had been a living reminder to the government officials that public office is a public trust.
The resolution added that Liked’s murder is the first brutal incident that ever happened to a barangay official in the province where the people are guided by the belief of ‘inayan’ and that only Kabunian can take back the life he has given to them.
While Liked could not be brought back to life, the board pointed out that the culprits should be immediately identified and for them to be prosecuted to suffer the consequences of their illegal acts that will serve as a lesson to others that murderers have no place to hide in Mountain Province.
Liked, who was also a staunch anti-crime and corruption advocate, was gunned down on the night of September 2, 2020 in their compound, a place where people least expect that a heinous crime will happen.
Earlier, Gov. Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. also condemned the brutal murder of the barangay kagawad and sought for justice for the untimely demise of the barangay official so as not to taint a bad image of the province that had remain peaceful and orderly for the past several decades.
On the other hand, the Leonardo Pacsi command of the New Peoples Army (NPA) issued a statement asserting that the armed group will continue to fight for the rights of the oppressed in the different parts of the province but the same did not directly admit the group’s participation to the brutal murder of kagawad Liked.
Probers are still conducting an in-depth investigation on Liked’s murder as efforts are being done to locate the perpetrators of the heinous crime and to identify the possible mastermind that will lead to the determination of the real motive of his assassination right in their residential compound.
Before being elected as a barangay kagawad, Liked served as the Secretary-General of the Cordillera chapter of the Citizens Crime Watch (CCW-CAR) and was involved in the filing of various graft charges against different government officials and employees of several local governments and government agencies over the past several years.
Based on the data obtained from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Mountain Province is one of the most peaceful and orderly provinces in the country because of the minimal crimes that are being recorded by the different police stations year-round where the same could be traced to the peace-loving people and officials of the province who value the importance of peace throughout the past several decades. By HENT