WHY do people do it? Risk their lives for politics, I mean.
Panadtaran, San Fernando Barangay Captain and town Association of Barangay Councils president Ricardo “Nonoy” Reluya Jr. had known weeks before he was fatally ambushed in Talisay City that he and his wife Mayor Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya, along with other allies, were on the “hit list” of a political opponent.
I know the rival vehemently denies any involvement in the attack, but it doesn’t change the fact that Nonoy is dead along with Magsico Barangay Captain Johnny Arriesgado and Municipal Councilor Reneboy Dacalos. The two men were killed earlier in the month by still unidentified assassins.
Before you accuse me of jumping the gun by blaming their deaths on politics when authorities are also considering their alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade or family business as a possible motive, Arriesgado was running for municipal councilor under the Reluyas’ slate. Dacalos was an independent, but he may have leaned towards the Reluyas.
So you have two men vying for a seat in the Municipal Council and one man running for vice mayor. They’re all dead.
Mind you, it was businessman Ruben Feliciano who linked the Reluyas, Arriesgado and Dacalos to the illegal drug trade. He had said that the mayor benefited from the machinery of self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones in the last election. By the way, to those who still don’t know, Franz is the brother of the town’s phantom vice mayor, Fralz Sabalones.
Feliciano allegedly posted on Facebook the names of five local politicians, including the mayor, who he planned to kill because they were embroiled in narcopolitics.
Feliciano, who moved to the town from Davao City to, I presume, oversee the implementation of a P12.5-billion port project in Barangay Sangat, is running for mayor against Neneth.
In a statement posted on the town’s official website on Tuesday, Jan. 29, Neneth said she would press on with her reelection bid.
Like her dead husband, she knows what she’s getting into. Yet she will not back down.
By the way, Feliciano must know that his life is also in danger. I’m sure the three slain officials had friends, families and supporters who would like to see the interloper buried six feet underground. But he, too, will press on with his bid for the mayoralty.
So let me rephrase my question. What compels the likes of Neneth and Feliciano to risk their lives for San Fernando’s highest elective post?
Don’t tell me it’s their innate desire to help the residents of this second-class municipality.