ILOILO – Family feud stemming from land conflict is being considered by the police as possible motive in the ambush of the chief of the quality assurance section of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) Iloilo 4th District Engineering Office.
Engineer Eva Bedonia, 54, of Hedriana Street, Pavia, Iloilo and her driver survived Monday’s attack in Barangay Bolong Oeste, Santa Barbara town.
“There was a misunderstanding between Bedonia and relatives over a parcel of land,” said Major Raymund Celoso, Santa Barbara police chief.
Celoso, however, could not yet ascertain if the disputed land was in Pavia.
As of now, Celoso said, his men were still trying to identify the two motorcycle-riding assassins wearing jackets, facemasks and helmets.
It was around 7:40 a.m. on Monday when Bedonia and Administrative Aide III Rogelio Serilo, 38, of Barangay Cabilauan, New Lucena were ambushed.
Their service vehicle, a white pickup, sustained five bullets holes but they were luckily unhurt.
It was clear that the target was Bedonia, according to Celoso, pointing to the bullet holes on the pickup’s passenger side where Bedonia was seated.
Prior to her appointment at the quality and assurance section of the 4th District Engineering Office in 2011, Bedonia was a casual employee of the DPWH Region 6.
The engineer had no known enemy at work and was kind, according to her coworker Engineer Perla Laguardia.
“Wala problema ah. Masinulondon kag mabuot, wala gid ya sia sang problema sa paminatasan,” Laguardia, assistant district engineer of DPWH-Iloilo 4th Engineering Office, told Panay News.
She recalled that two or three years ago, Bedonia mentioned having received a non-work-related death threat./PN
