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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Church denies fomenting bloodbath in Colombio
By Jeffrey Tupas and Ben O. Tesiorna
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- The Catholic church denied any involvement in the mounting of a human barricade in the town of Colombio in Sultan Kudarat that resulted to the bloody transfer of the remaining two ballot boxes left for counting at the provincial capitol in Sultan Kudarat.
Bishop Romulo Valles said that while they are in full support of their people's protest for alleged cheating at the polls, they did not instigate them to oppose the transfer of ballots by the military from Colombio to Isulan.
The incident resulted to the death of four supporters of Columbio mayoralty bet Mohammad Paglas, brother of former Datu Paglas Mayor Ibrahim Paglas.
"There is no truth to that statement. The priests have nothing to do with the barricade," Valles said.
Paglas said Columbio Parish priest Eduardo Pedregoza and Italian missionary priest Peter Geremia could partly be blamed for the incident in the town that resulted to the death of four of his supporters.
"We are perceived as the ones who influenced the people... we did not influence them... but we understand very well the cry of the people," Valles defended.
Their support to the people, Valles said, is anchored on their belief that the church could not see "deep, serious, valid reason why the canvassing should be moved out."
"It's too arbitrary...it can't be done. It generates suspicion," the bishop added.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the canvassing has not started and the human barricade remained very tense in Colombio, the bishop said.
With this, the bishop said, they will continue to support the people until the Commission on Election will resolve the case. He added that they would also continue opposing the transfer of the ballot boxes, which contain 21 election returns.
In a telephone interview, Col. Rolando Picar, commander of the Army's 66th Infantry Battalion tasked to investigate the Colombio incident, said "the explosion may have been instigated by supporters of contending parties since there was a clash between the parties".
"The explosion seemed to come from the Muslim area at the back (of the municipal hall) which triggered the firefight," Picar said.
Mayoral candidate Thong Paglas earlier blamed the police supporters of incumbent mayor Edwin Bermudez for the death of his four supporters.
Families flee
Meanwhile, arround 200 families reportedly evacuated from the border of Colombio in Sultan Kudarat and Datu Paglas in Maguindanao for fear that they would be caught in a possible crossfire between supporters of Colombio mayoral candidate Mohammad "Thong" Paglas and incumbent mayor Edwin Bermudez.
This happened after the bloody incident in Colombio last Saturday where four supporters of Paglas were killed during a brief firefight between the Philippine Army and still unidentified groups outside the municipal hall.
Col. Rolando Picar, commander of the Army's 66th Infantry Battalion, said the evacuees are mostly Muslim families residing at the border of the two municipalities.
He said they are however convincing the evacuees to return to their homes now since everything is already under the authorities' control.
It was learned though that the ballot counting has not resumed in Colombio and that the two hotly contested ballot boxes containing the election returns are still inside the Colombio municipal hall under the intense watch of the Army, the police and the supporters of both political camps.
Picar said that the municipal peace and order council met last Monday and requested for a fact-finding body to investigate on the bloody incident.
He said they are just waiting for the Comelec decision on the matter. It was learned that Comelec officer Lumino Pangamadun had a heart attack last Sunday and is still recuperating at the hospital. With Peng Aliño
(May 19, 2004 issue)
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