Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Campaigner shot at By Mia E. Abellana & Jeanette P. Malinao Sun.Star Staff Reporters
A DAY after a peace covenant was signed to keep the May 14 elections peaceful and orderly, a political coordinator was shot at in an island town that has been declared an election area of concern.
Six shots failed to hit Rogelio Rico Luena, 63, as he was traveling along Barangay Tugas, Madridejos, Cebu yesterday morning.
Luena was campaigning with Madridejos vice mayoralty candidate Eddy Villacarlos when one of two men shot him at past 11 a.m. He heard about four shots.
Luena was unharmed but he lost his balance on his motorcycle and fell. As he ran for safety, he heard the attackers fire two more shots.
Aside from the graze wound he suffered from the fall, Luena was not hurt from any bullets.
Luena went ahead of Villacarlos in their campaign sortie as part of the advance party.
Villacarlos is the running mate of his sister Mayor Lety Mancio, who is seeking reelection under the Kampi party.
Ambush
Villacarlos accused their rival camp of staging an “ambush” at the boundary of Barangays Tugas and Tarong, where he conducted a house-to-house campaign.
He said that just as he left Tarong, he was already warned of the presence of two suspicious-looking men at the highway near the boundary, but he ignored the information.
Villacarlos believes the shooting was related to the elections but the leader of their rival group, independent mayoral candidate Salvador dela Fuente, has another version.
Dela Fuente, Mayor Mancio’s fiercest challenger this May, said it was Mancio’s camp that instigated the violence yesterday.
Dela Fuente said his supporters were merely standing by the road when Mancio’s men approached them, one of whom slapped his supporter, Ondo Hortelano.
“Gitamparos sa ilang tawo si Ondo, dayun nahibung na ang among mga tawo nga naa nay buto-buto sa unahan (One of them slapped Ondo then moments later my supporters were surprised to hear gunshots from afar),” said dela Fuente.
Chase
In the separate interviews, the two camps accused the other of being desperate and of harassment. The groups would also welcome if the Commission on Elections will put their town under the poll office’s control.
Responding policemen from the Madridejos Police Station tried to catch up with the suspects after getting the alarm about 11:43 a.m., but the two fled to the bushes.
Policemen were about 200 meters away from the gunmen before they lost sight of them.
PO2 Danny Alburo, Madridejos Police Station desk officer, told Sun.Star Cebu that Barangay Tugas is 2.5 kilometers away from the town proper.
Alburo said Luena could not identify his attackers because he was taken by surprise.
The incident prompted Senior Supt. Carmelo Valmoria to immediately activate the elections sub-task group for Bantayan Island.
More PNP
He initially designated Supt. Erson Digal, deputy provincial director for operations, as head of the subtask group.
Valmoria earlier planned to create subtask groups for each district in Cebu Province.
However, since Bantayan has special concerns, the subtask group for the island will be separate from the group he created for Cebu’s fourth district where the island belongs.
Valmoria also said he has sent an additional team of policemen to Bantayan Island.
He is also waiting for Insp. Jose Rovic Villarin, Madridejos police chief, to submit a special report on the incident.
Asked if he considered this an election-related incident, Valmoria said he will wait for all the details of the investigation.
Record
The two prominent political groups in Madridejos said they recorded their version of the incident in the police blotter. The two camps also felt reassured with the promise of the local police to intensify their checkpoints and patrols in the barangays.
The mayoral seat in Madridejos has always been much-fought over, with a history of violence and countless court cases.
As of press time, Villarin was conducting checkpoints in the town.
Minutes before the incident, Police Regional Office 7 Director Silverio Alarcio Jr. told reporters about the signing of the peace covenant and forum held at the Bantayan Sports Complex last Monday.
He said the presence of the candidates at the covenant signing showed “they believe.”
The presence of unidentified armed men was one of the major concerns raised by the candidates during the peace forum held before the covenant signing.
Pledge
The covenant stated that the candidates were to “abide by the principles of peace and lawfulness in the conduct of our campaigns and partisan activities.”
They also pledged to “avoid at all cost the use of force, intimidation, fraud and violence for the advantage of (their) political interest.”
Candidates vowed to obey all laws and regulations mandated by authorities and to observe fairness, justice and sportsmanship in dealing with their political opponents.
As proof of their sincerity and commitment, they agreed to follow and respect the contents of the covenant.
