By LIEZLE BASA INIGO
URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan – An elderly woman and her daughter were killed while their companion, a pastor, was unhurt in an ambush pulled by four motorcycle-riding gunmen in Barangay Nancayasan, this city, at 9 p.m. Sunday.
Police identified the victims as Francisca Menesis Peralta, 86, and her daughter, Demetria, 49, residents of Barangay Patayac, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan.
Demetria’s friend, Benjamin Mangalonzo, 62, a pastor of Save by Grace Full Gospel Manila and a resident of Tondo, Manila, survived the attack unscathed.
Probers said the two victims and the pastor were all riding a black Montero van when four unidentified armed men on board two motorcycles cut their path and shot them.
The mother and daughter sustained gunshot wounds and were declared dead on arrival at Urdaneta District Hospital in Barangay Dilan-paurido.
Police learned that the pastor and Demetria both received death threats prior to the ambush.
“Bilang na ang mga araw mo,” read a text message received by the pastor last March, according to a police investigator.
The pastor admitted to police that he and Demetria were very close friends.
“Nakwento din ni pastor na si Demetria ay nasa proseso na rin ng annulment sa kaniyang asawa subalit nagkaroon lang ng delay dahil sa panahon ng pandemic,” the police investigator said.
Police SSgt. Darwin Cacho, investigator on case, said they have yet to determine the motive behind the attack.
