Friday, November 02, 2007 Poll loser blamed for Naga ‘beating’
A DEFEATED candidate for barangay chief was accused of beating up the winning candidate’s supporter, threatening other people and breaking street lamps in his rage.
The incident happened Wednesday night, hours after a grenade was lobbed at a barangay hall in another village in the same component city.
Editho Sasan, 49, allegedly used a .45 pistol to hit Marcelino Basalan in Sitio Tayad-tayad, Barangay Cantao-an, City of Naga.
He also reportedly kicked Basalan several times and told him to move to another village. He accused Basalan of siding with his opponent Fe Codoy, who was declared the winner in Monday’s polls.
Basalan is a registered voter of Barangay Pangdan, but his wife reportedly voted in Cantao-an.
Basalan was taken to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City after suffering injuries in the nose and other parts of his body.
In a radio dyHP report, Basalan said he was just lying on a hammock outside his house when Sasan suddenly kicked him without provocation.
Basalan also broke his nose after Sasan allegedly whacked it using a .45 pistol.
In the same radio report, Codoy claimed that Sasan also used his .45 pistol to shoot at the street lamps that City of Naga Mayor Val Chiong recently provided for them.
Codoy was quoted as saying Sasan was unable to accept defeat.
Aside from beating Basalan up, she said Sasan also made similar threats to her supporters in Cantao-an, hurled rocks and shot at street lamps in the barangay.
In another incident, police will be verifying the lot number and serial number found on the grenade that exploded in Barangay Inayagan, City of Naga Wednesday dawn.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos said these numbers will let them know where the grenade was manufactured and to whom it was sold.
Roderos said that Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Carmelo Valmoria went to the area Wednesday night but the motive of the grenade-throwing has yet to be established.
He told reporters that the Firearms and Explosives Division in Camp Crame will verify the numbers on the grenade.
However, tracing the person who was issued the grenade would not guarantee he is responsible for the crime. Roderos explained that they will still have to gather corroborative evidence to establish his involvement in the grenade-throwing incident.
The City of Naga Police will also be summoning the three candidates for barangay captain and asking them to take a lie detector test.
Valmoria earlier refused to speculate on the motive until they have made a thorough investigation, but talks among residents in Inayagan fueled reports that politics had something to do with the blast. (MEA)
