Wife of Abra mayor dies weeks after shooting

The wife of the town mayor of Tineg town in Abra died Sunday, a month after being wounded in an election-related shooting incident last May. GMA News reported that Brenda Crisologo, wife of Tineg Mayor Edwin Crisologo, died at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City shortly after speaking with her supporters. Brenda was shot on May 17 at at the Holy Spirit Academy in Bangued, Abra while votes were being canvassed there. She sustained five gunshot wounds to her body. Interviewed over the weekend, Mayor Crisologo insisted the attack on his wife was politically motivated. "My wife would not have died if it were not for politics. We know who is behind this," he said in Filipino. Crisologo said that until now he has not been proclaimed even if the canvassing ended with him ahead of his rival Lenin Benwaren by 87 votes. Benwaren later filed an electoral protest. He asked the Comelec en banc to exclude from the counting two precincts in the town, after Crisologo's wife allegedly threatened the voters in those precincts to support her husband. Crisologo's camp however believes the protest is pointless. "They made an appeal with the commission en banc but there were no new allegations so we're confident that this petition or appeal will also be denied by the commission," said Estelita Cordero, lawyer of mayor Crisologo. - GMANews.TV