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Ozamiz mayor, wife dead as police raid Parojinog homes

Philstar.com

July 30, 2017 | 3:12am

Ozamiz mayor, wife dead as police raid Parojinog homes

Members of the Philippine National Police and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) armed with search warrants raided homes of alleged illegal drug personalities in Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental early Sunday.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED 1:20 p.m.) — Members of the Philippine National Police and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) armed with search warrants raided homes of alleged illegal drug personalities in Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental early Sunday.

The raids were on residences of the Parojinog political clan.

The raid on Mayor Reynaldo “Aldong” Parojinog Sr’s house resulted in his death.

His wife Susan also died during the raid.

Ozamiz Vice Mayor Nova Parojinog Echaves has also been arrested after a raid in San Roque Lawis, where authorities seized firearms and shabu.

Echaves was brought to the provincial office of the CIDG after the arrest.

The raid in San Roque Lawis also resulted in deaths of Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team and Civil Volunteer Organization members identified as Miguel del Victoria, Nestor Cabalan and a certain Vasquez.

Another BPAT member who was killed has yet to be identified.

The CIDG also raided City Councilor Ardot Parojinog's house in Bagakay.

The councilor, a former provincial board member, was away from his house when it was raided.

Five men were arrested during the search as the police also seized firearms and drug paraphernalia.

Police confiscated a shotgun, three rocket propelled grenade launchers, two hand grenades, eight M-79 bullets and an M-79 rifle, shabu and drug paraphernalia from Councilor Parojinog's residence.

Authorities also searched the house of "Dodo", the mayor's son.

In February 2017, the Sandiganbayan ordered the arrest of Aldong and his daughter Echavez, in connection with their graft case over the alleged anomalous awarding of a contract for the renovation of a gymnasium in 2008. They posted bail in the same month.

Aldong, who also faced corruption charges, had denied any links to illegal drugs. He was the third mayor to be killed under President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody crackdown on drugs, which left more than 3,000 dead in reported gunfights with police and has been widely criticized by Western governments and human rights groups.

The officers were "met with volleys of fire from (the mayor's) security, prompting the Philippine National Police personnel to retaliate," Chief Superintendent Timoteo Pacleb said in a statement. He said that Aldong and six relatives and bodyguards died in his farm house. The mayor's wife was reportedly among the dead.

Last year, police officers shot dead Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. inside a jail cell in Leyte, and a week before that, another mayor and his nine bodyguards were gunned down allegedly during a firefight on a road in Mindanao.

All three mayors were among more than 160 officials Duterte named publicly as being linked to illegal drugs in August last year as part of a shame campaign.

Duterte has vowed not to stop until, he said, the last drug trafficker in the country has been eliminated. —Rosette Adel with reports from The Associated Press