Melvin de la Cuesta

LAOAG  CITY  VICE  MAYOR  MURDERED 
LAOAG CITY, February 3, 2005 (STAR) By Teddy Molina  -  The vice mayor of this northern city, a harsh critic against illegal gambling, was killed in cold blood as he stepped out of a restaurant here before dawn yesterday.
Before the incident, Vice Mayor Jimmy Chua, 38, had received death threats through text messages to his cellular phone, which he just ignored.
Chua’s killing was the latest after last year’s wave of murders across Ilocos Norte. Police earlier declared the killings solved with the arrest of the alleged mastermind and his hired assassins last year.
Chua was waiting outside the Eagle Nest Restaurant in Barangay Barit for city councilor Melvin de la Cuesta, who was in the restroom, when he was attacked shortly after 3 a.m. He was shot once in the right temple.
Witnesses said the gunman was riding a motorcycle driven by another man. The two sped off toward Bacarra town.
Chua, along with other city officials led by Mayor Michael Fariñas, reportedly went to the restaurant for a late dinner at about midnight.
They had accompanied entertainers who performed Tuesday night in the kick-off to the city’s week-long fiesta celebration.
Superintendent Joel Pagdilao, city police chief, some councilors and the entertainers left at 1 a.m., while Chua and De la Cuesta opted to stay behind.
Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., who is in Honolulu, Hawaii for an official visit, condemned Chua’s murder and instructed acting Gov. Wendell Chua and Senior Superintendent Juan Luna, provincial police director, to apprehend his killers immediately, provincial spokesman Lito Gorospe said.
Without elaborating, police probers said they are looking into personal and political angles in the killing.
Chua had been an anti-jueteng crusader since he was first elected into public office as a councilor. A bachelor, he was a self-made millionaire, having made fortunes in the hardware, grocery and pubhouse businesses.
He apprehended jueteng bet collectors on sight and brought them to the police headquarters himself.
He won as vice mayor as an independent candidate in last year’s elections. Gorospe attributed this to his "immense popularity." — With Artemio Dumlao