6 killed, 3 hurt in Abra ambush

Election violence has claimed six more lives in the province of Abra.

Ten gunmen opened fire yesterday on a Mistubishi Pajero, killing relatives of re-electionist Lagayan town Mayor Cecille Luna who were serving as her campaign volunteers.

Romero and Eduardo Guyang, Felima Calip Flores, Jason Battalao, Bali Rubeo and Darwin Sitrangin died of multiple gunshot wounds, while Lorenzo and Roderick Guyang and Armenio Ayab survived the shooting and are now under treatment at the Abra provincial hospital.

"The gunmen positioned themselves along the road and waited for the victims, then sprayed them with automatic gunfire from high-powered guns," Senior Superintendent Alexander Pumecha said.

Cordillera police spokesman Superintendent Joseph Adnol said the daylight ambush was politically motivated, particularly in Abra, which has earned the nickname the "killing fields" for the high level of poll-related violence there.

In Albay province, a retired police officer running for a seat on the municipal council of Daraga town was shot dead during a campaign sortie in barangay Bascaran early Thursday evening. There had been no threats to his life and police suspect communist rebels were behind the slaying of Enrique Bausa because he reportedly refused to pay campaign fees.

The Abra ambush took place two days after four congressional candidates— Luna, Mailed Molina, Abra Gov. Vicente Valera and lawyer Gil Valera — vowed that they would not resort to violence in a live forum aired by local radio station 96.9 FM.

Luna earlier sued Valera for attempting to have her assassinated some years back. Valera was also linked to the Dec. 16, 2006 killing of Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin inside a church compound in Quezon City.

The Luna camp has not yet issued any statements on the ambush.

Abra was placed under the control of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) because of the high level of violence there. Task Force Abra is now in hot pursuit of the suspects.

In Marikina City, two female political leaders backing the campaign of Marikina City Rep. Del de Guzman were shot and wounded yesterday in Barangay Tumana by five armed men while they were distributing and putting up De Guzman’s campaign posters.

Mila Andrade, 49, was shot in the cheek and stomach, while Rosita Tubise, 46, sustained a gunshot wound in the right leg after assailants on board a tricycle opened fire on them. Both women are being treated at the Marikina Valley Medical Center.

The shooting was the second incident of election-related violence recorded in Metro Manila, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director for operations Chief Superintendent Eric Javier said.

The first incident of poll-related violence recorded in Metro Manila was the fatal shooting of Quezon province congressional candidate Vicente "Butch" Rabaya in Quezon City last month.

De Guzman said in a press conference that Andrade is one of the political leaders of his camp and that Tubise is his supporter.

He also said he received a text message three days ago warning him that his political leader in Barangay Tumana would be liquidated – a message he had interpreted as either harassment or a prank until Marikina Vice Mayor Marion Andres received the same threat sent from the same mobile phone number.

Andrade earlier told De Guzman that suspicious-looking men were casing her house in Tumana and that she had received threatening text messages warning her to stop campaigning for De Guzman or "something bad would happen to her."

De Guzman, a Lakas-CMD candidate, is pitted against Romeo Candazo of the Genuine Opposition in the congressional race of the second district of Marikina.

After the 2004 elections, a grenade was thrown in the direction of De Guzman’s supporters after he was proclaimed the winner of the Marikina congressional race, but no one was injured.

In Bicol, too

Former police Senior Inspector Enrique Bausa, an independent candidate, was campaigning with local Lakas-CMD candidates in Bascaran at 6:10 p.m. when a lone gunman fired a .45 caliber pistol at the back of Bausa’s head.

The gunman continued to shoot Bausa as he lay sprawled on the ground, Albay police director Superintendent Harold Hubalde said.

Hubalde said Bausa was rushed to the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He died of blood loss.

It was reported that Bausa had not received any threats to his life and that he did not have any security escort while campaigning.

Bausa had also refused to pay the illegal permit-to-campaign fee demanded by the New People’s Army, saying it would be better to use the fees to pay the tuition of the students he is sending to school.

Police said one of the suspects in the shooting had been asking who Bausa was from participants who were there an hour before the sortie began and that eight other NPA rebels were in the area at the time.

In a report to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Calderon, acting Bicol region police chief Senior Superintendent Balligi Tira said he had ordered a thorough investigation into the Bausa killing.

"With this senseless murder of Colonel Bausa, the people of Daraga, Albay were denied a truly service-oriented public servant," Tira said. "We hope to end the cycle of the violent killings of PNP members and innocent civilians by NPA rebels."

The PNP Intelligence Unit has confirmed reports that the NPA has imposed "permit-to-campaign" and "permit-to-win" fees on candidates in rebel-infested areas.

However, candidates who pay these illegal fees collected by the NPA face disqualification because giving the NPA money is an act supporting enemies of the state.

In another incident, Manuel Tolentino, 58, an ally of re-electionist Gapan City, Nueva Ecija Mayor Ernesto Natividad, was shot dead in broad daylight Thursday in what Natividad described as a politically-motivated attack.

Tolentino was driving his green Suzuki Vitara through Barangay Bayanihan when two gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire on him.

Gapan police officer-in-charge Superintendent Marlon Bingcang said Tolentino is a known political leader from the Natividad camp.

The Tolentino slay happened a week after a gunfight in Jaen town that left two people dead and 17 wounded, prompting Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos to put Nueva Ecija under Comelec control.

Natividad said in a telephone interview that his political leaders had been receiving death threats from the camp of his rival, mayoralty candidate Rodrigo Pascual.

"Everybody in Gapan City knows Pascual has a private army," Natividad said. "I don’t know why the (Philippine National Police) has failed to dismantle it."

He also said another rival of his, former Gapan mayor Arthur Velayo, has no capability to mount such an attack and has no motive to do so.

"Velayo has been saying in his campaign sortie that if they cannot vote for him, then they should just support me," Natividad said.

At least 10 people have been killed in election-related violence in Nueva Ecija since the campaign period began. Gapan City has been listed as an area of concern in the past three elections due to the intense political rivalries that prevail there.

In Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, a grenade was lobbed at the house of the Ruben Sayo, the incumbent mayor of Aritao town at 1:30 yesterday morning. No one was hurt in the incident, though Sayo’s parked service car was damaged by the blast.

Sayo, who is on his third and final term as mayor, expressed dismay over the incident: "Definitely, this is politically motivated.

He has been campaigning actively for the administration’s Team Unity ticket and is an ally of former House minority leader Carlos Padilla, who is running for a seat representing Nueva Vizcaya’s lone congressional district under the Nacionalista Party-affiliated Abante Nueva Vizcaya.

All the major political parties in the province denounced the incident.

Police found grenade fragments and the remains of a firecracker at the site of the blast.

In Oriental Mindoro, fish vendor Denia Malubay, 54, and jeepney driver Fermin Labi, 53, were killed in a drive-by shooting, while passenger Belinda Matri, 54, was wounded in the attack.

According to Oriental Mindoro police provincial director Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr., two suspects riding a motorcycle shot the three victims at 8 a.m. yesterday. The suspects have not yet been identified.

Reports reaching Camp Crame showed that one of the two fatalities was a campaign leader for a local candidate in the province, though the candidate was not identified by the authorities.

Cruz said the police are also looking at a possible "love triangle" angle, based on reports that Labi had relationships with different women.

In San Manuel, Pangasinan. the house of a barangay chieftain who is a known supporter of re-electionist town Mayor Salvador Perez was strafed repeatedly using an M-16 assault rifle.

The house of barangay chief Maximo Nicolas III in Barangay Gueset Norte was sprayed with bullets, but no one was wounded. A Toyota Tamaraw FX parked outside the house was hit several times, however.

San Manuel police community relations officer PO3 Pepito Campos said this is the second time the home of a Perez supporter was strafed with automatic gunfire.

The PNP said at least 75 people have been killed and 82 wounded since Jan. 14, when the campaign period began. Almost 150 deaths were reported during the hotly contested 2004 elections. – with Celso Amo, Manny Galvez, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Eva Visperas, Charlie Lagasca, Artemio Dumlao, Myds Supnad, Arnell Ozaeta, AFP and AP