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Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Candidate for councilor, aide of mayoralty bet shot dead
By Harley F. Palangchao
A COUNCIL candidate and a close aide of a mayoral bet were killed in separate shooting incidents in Abra Province, which political observers claimed signaled the start of "political assassinations" ahead of the May 2004 elections.
Last Sunday, Ceferino Callibag, 58, and a candidate for municipal councilor in Danglas town, was shot to death by two still unidentified gunmen who entered his sari-sari store and shot him twice.
Callibag was rushed by his neighbors to a nearest hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival, according to the reports from the Police Regional Office-Cordillera Administrative Region (PRO-CAR).
Callibag's supporters reportedly claimed the killing was politically-motivated.
Last Saturday, Gregorio Castaņeda, a known close aide of Senior Supt. Wilmer Panabang, who is running for mayor of Pennarubia town, was also shot dead by one of three unidentified men in front of the latter's house.
Casteņada, also known as Kumander Agila by his peers, died after sustaining five gunshot wounds in different parts of his body.
Castaņeda and Panabang were together in Ilocos Sur a day before the killing, the police reported.
The latest killings came barely three weeks after politicians in the province, led by Gov. Vicente Valera, signed a peace agreement to ensure the peaceful and orderly conduct of elections.
The signing of the peace agreement was meant to stop election-related frauds and shooting incidents in the province that have marred previous elections.
Several politicians in Abra and their supporters were killed in the past three elections, which prompted Chief Supt. Rowland Albano, Cordillera police chief, to ask politicians to be part of the peace accord signing.
The entire Abra province was placed under Comelec control in the 2001 elections following a series of election-related fraud and killings. All gun ban exemptions were also revoked.
In the May elections, 28 Abra barangays were categorized as "areas of concern" while Barangay Namabaran in Pennarubia was the only barangay in the region that was declared as "area of immediate concern."
At least two mayors in Abra - Clarence Benwaren of Tineg and Jose Segundo of Tubo - were killed in the past two years.
(February 10, 2004 issue)
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