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Saturday, October 27, 2007
Armed men barge into poll bet’s house
CEBU CITY -- Ten heavily armed men stormed the house of a barangay councilor seeking reelection in this Monday’s polls in the island town of San Francisco, Cebu Friday morning.
San Isidro Barangay Councilor Jesus Mecaros was not home at the time of the attack; but a neighbor sleeping in his house was killed while his wife was wounded.
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Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Carmelo Valmoria ordered San Francisco Police to investigate the incident, and for the Camotes Island election subtask group to supervise.
Chief Inspector Virgilio Apurado, subtask group head, initially said the attack did not appear to be an election-related incident.
Valmoria said Mecaros and the barangay captain are running unopposed.
The police have identified two of the armed men who allegedly bore a grudge against Mecaros. The men reportedly used M16 rifles.
The police are on a manhunt and were ordered to block all possible exits of the island.
Police Officer Nelson Ducay, San Francisco Police Station officer-in-charge, identified the fatality as Robinson Estrera, 50.
Mecaros’s wife, Lourdes, was wounded in the left hand and is being treated in Cebu City.
Eight men reportedly barged inside the Mecaros’s residence while two stayed outside as lookouts.
Two of the armed men were identified as Adolfo Liston Jr., Mecaros’s nephew, and Jose “Otik” Cartagena, another relative.
Ducay said the men were looking for Mecaros, who was on duty as a Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) tower security guard.
Estrera reportedly tried to stop the men, who shoot him several times before fleeing on board a brown Mazda pick-up.
Mecaros heard the gunshots and ran to his house, only to find his wounded wife and the lifeless Estrera.
Ducay said that with the number of shots fired, it appeared as if one bullet magazine was emptied on Estrera.
His men recovered 18 empty M16 rifle bullet shells.
The police traced the pick-up as owned by one Rudy Arquillano, a San Isidro resident and relative of Mecaros.
Ducay said Estrera may have fired back using a .45 pistol and a KG-9 submachine pistol, which were found in the crime scene.
He said they did not consider political rivalry as motive for the attack because Mecaros and San Isidro Barangay Captain Joel Cartagena do not have any election rivals.
Liston and Otik, on the other hand, held a grudge against Mecaros, with whom Liston reportedly had an argument in the past.
Otik, on the other hand, reportedly blamed Mecaros after being arrested for bringing an unlicensed gun.
Ducay said both Liston and Cartagena have police “records.” Liston, in particular, is suspected of being responsible for a shooting incident, but no case was filed.
Ducay said the others were likely not from their place because witnesses, including Mecaros’s four children, were not familiar with them.
Valmoria said they did not receive any report on a private armed group operating in Camotes.
He assured of ongoing operations to locate the armed men, who could not leave the island by boat as the police already guarded all ports.
San Isidro is not among the barangays classified as election areas of concern or immediate concern.
San Francisco does not even have a single barangay in the list of 15 barangays where intense political rivalry and a history of poll violence are noted.
“As of now, we cannot classify this as an election related violent incident,” Valmoria told Sun.Star. (MEA of Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (October 27, 2007 issue)
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