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Sunday, May 13, 2007
Poll violence claims 4 more lives
MANILA -- Violence ahead of Monday's congressional and local elections has claimed at least four more lives, raising poll-related deaths to 108, officials said.
Gunmen ambushed the convoy of Salaban Diocolano, a candidate for re-election as mayor of Kabuntalan in southern Maguindanao province, late Friday, killing his driver, Regional Police Chief Joel Goltiao said.
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The driver ran over one of the attackers, killing him, before he died, Goltiao said Saturday.
Diocolano was slightly wounded in the attack, he said.
Investigators who went to the scene early Saturday recovered a homemade bomb believed meant for Diocolano, Goltiao said. The device was powerful enough to destroy a vehicle and kill its occupants, he said.
Police recovered the slain attacker's M-16 rifle, but did not know whether he had links to Diocolano's rival, he said.
In central Masbate province, an armed man who was allegedly distributing money with sample ballots for a mayoral candidate was killed Friday in cross fire when officers who arrested him were fired upon by unknown gunmen, said acting regional police chief Senior Superintendent Balligi Tira.
In Mexico City, Pampanga province, the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) arrested some 10 alleged supporters of Mexico Mayor Teddy Tumang for allegedly harassing barangay leaders of former Mayor Ernesto Punzalan in Barangay Lagundi, Mexico town.
The arrested suspects were identified as Eddie Aguas, Wilfredo Tumang, Elmer Lising, Roy Castro, Alwin Pineda, Bong Selis, Zaldy Panoy, Eduardo Mercado, Eduardo Lalusin and Quirino Dizon.
One of the victims, meanwhile, was identified as Danilo Lalu.
RMG Regional Director Manny Gaerlan said at around 1:30 p.m. Saturday, the suspects were arrested following the alleged harassment which transpired at the compound of Lalu.
Gaerlan said the RMG office has been monitoring the activities of Tumang's supporters.
Lalu claimed the suspects, armed with knives and deadly weapons harassed him and his companions while inside his compound.
The suspects, he added, were on board an L-300 van and an owner-type jeepney. Lalu said Tumang's supporters accused him of vote-buying.
However, the suspects denied the allegations, saying they trailed Lalu's team who they claimed were in the act of "vote-buying" in the area.
Carmela, daughter of former mayor Punzalan, revealed that prior to the said harassment in the area, a certain Nanding Sazon - also a barangay leader in San Jose Matulid - was allegedly "abducted" by Tumang's supporters and was detained at the police station for alleged "vote-buying."
But she said that Sazon received some P67,000 as partial payment to Punzalan's poll watchers in Barangay San Jose Matulid.
She added that it was impossible for their supporters to engage in vote buying, saying the place where Sazon was allegedly "abducted" was a public place.
She said Punzalan's camp is filing illegal detention, hold-up and grave threat harassment charges against Tumang's team.
However, Mayor Tumang denied the harassment incident, saying it is part of Punzalan's alleged "dirty political tactics" against him.
In another poll-related clash, one soldier was killed and 13 other security personnel were wounded in a two-hour gunbattle Saturday with communist New People's Army rebels in a northern province, the military said.
The soldiers and police were responding to reports that the rebels near Bontoc township in Mountain Province were demanding "permit-to-campaign" fees from candidates when they were attacked by the insurgents. The government has deemed the practice extortion, and vowed to stamp it out.
The military was put on full alert Thursday, followed by police on Friday amid rising violence in the run-up to the May 14 balloting.
A proliferation of unlicensed weapons, politicians' private armies and intimidation and allegations of cheating spark violence every election in the Philippines. The 2004 presidential election left at least 189 people dead.
Nearly 87,000 candidates are vying for 17,000 national and local positions on Monday. All 265 House of Representatives seats and half of the 24 Senate seats are up for grabs. (AP/With reports from Marna H. Dagumboy of Sun.Star Pampanga)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (May 13, 2007 issue)
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More cops deployed to guard Armm elections 