THE murder of another elected official from San Fernando prompted the Cebu Provincial Election Office to call for additional police officers to be deployed in the southern town and, if necessary, military intervention.
Municipal Councilor Alfonso Donaire IV was shot dead by unidentified men inside his parent’s house in Ramon Magsaysay in Zamboanga del Sur last Saturday morning, Feb. 23.
Concern
Acting Provincial Election Supervisor Jerome Brillantes said he would recommend sending police and military reinforcements before the Provincial Joint Security Command Conference during their meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 26.
Brillantes said there was a growing concern about the safety of San Fernando candidates in the May midterm elections following Donaire’s murder.
“Ubay-ubay na gyud sa atong mga kandidato didto ang nadisgrasya (Several candidates had been killed),” he said.
However, Brillantes clarified that he could not recommend placing the town under the control of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). To do that, armed groups must be present to disrupt the elections. He said the police had yet to determine that.
But San Fernando would remain under red alert until further notice, he said.
List of casualties
The Police Regional Office 7 had ordered the Cebu Provincial Police Office to augment the troops in the town and deployed members of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion to conduct random checkpoints following the ambush of Mayor Lakambini Reluya in Talisay City last month.
Donaire was the fourth town official to be gunned down by unidentified assassins since the start of the year.
Donaire and Councilor Edwin Villaver had not appeared at the Municipal Hall since January after fellow Councilor Reneboy Dacalos and Magsico Barangay Captain Johnny Arriesgado were murdered on separate occasions.
The four men reportedly had ties with self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones, brother of the town’s vice mayor, Fralz, who had not been seen.
Panadtaran Barangay Captain and the town’s Association Barangay Councils president Ricardo Reluya Jr. was killed along with two municipal employees sduring the ambush on his wife last Jan. 22.
Due process
The mayor and two others survived.
However, the Reluyas were not tagged as being involved in the illegal drug trade, but they were on a “hit list” traced to businessman Ruben Feliciano, who is running for town mayor. Feliciano, though, denied having anything to do with the list, which he said was posted on a fake Facebook account.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 7 condemned the spate of murders against public officials in the town.
CHR 7 Director Arvin Odron, in a statement, said even if some of the victims were involved in the illegal drug trade, they were still entitled to due process.
“People suspected of being engaged in unlawful activities are likewise human beings with human rights. Any wrongdoings they commit should be dealt within accordance with the laws as nobody is entitled to take the law into his own hands,” Odron said.