THERE is another “kill list” circulating in the southern town of San Fernando.
The post on Facebook group page “Mga Estorya sa Politika sa San Fernando” contains the names of eight persons that include the town’s purok federation president, a municipal councilor and a barangay captain. Three persons on the list are running for a seat in the Municipal Council under the slate of Mayor Lakambini “Neneth” Reluya in the midterm elections in May. The rest are townsfolk with alleged links to the illegal drug trade.
The administrator of the group page was identified as Neil Enriquez, a former town councilor and municipal administrator during the time of former mayor Antonio Canoy.
Canoy, the running mate of businessman Ruben Feliciano who is gunning for the mayoral post against Reluya, was Reluya’s fiercest rival in past elections.
This is the first time Canoy’s name has been dragged into the controversy since the first kill list was made known to the public in the beginning of the year.
Reluya’s husband Ricardo Jr., the town’s Association of Barangay Councils president and Panadtaran barangay captain, spoke about its existence following the deaths of Magsico Barangay Captain Johnny Arriesgado and Municipal Councilor Reneboy Dacalos.
The two men were on the list along with the Reluya couple and Municipal Councilors Alfonso Donaire IV and Edwin Villaver.
The mayor survived an ambush last Jan. 22, but her husband did not. Donaire was shot by unidentified men inside his parents’ house in Zamboanga del Sur last month. Villaver has been absent for the last two months and yet he was assigned to head the committees on peace and order and environment last Monday, March 4.
The persons on the second kill list have every right to be afraid for their lives, considering the first kill list’s high mortality rate. One of them showed up before the Municipal Council to ask its remaining members to summon Enriquez.
Enriquez, though, denied he was behind the second list. He also denied being the administrator of the Facebook group page.
Feliciano, who accused the people on the first kill list of having links with self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones and admitted warning them they would die if they didn’t withdraw from the electoral race, could not be reached for comment when the news broke out.