TAGBILARAN CITY—A municipal councilor, a barangay councilman and a village treasurer were gunned down in separate shooting incidents in the provinces of Bohol, Cebu and Leyte on Thursday and Friday.
Police investigators believed the killings were related to either personal grudge or politics, coming barely three weeks before the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on Oct. 30.
In Bohol, two motorcycle-riding assailants shot dead Danilo Hayag Añora, a municipal councilor in Buenavista town on Friday, as he was driving his motorcycle along the town’s Cangawa National Highway at 12:30 a.m. He was heading home to Barangay Dait Norte on board from the town’s cockpit arena when he was killed.
The Buenavista police headed by Capt. Edcel Petecio suspected that politics could be the motive behind the killing of Añora but investigators said they were “deepening its investigation to identify other possible motives.”
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had earlier placed Barangay Dait Norte as one of the areas of concern in the town for the October polls due to political rivalries.
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In Cebu, Anastacio Pacquiao, 60, a village councilman running for barangay captain of Cansomoroy, Balamban town, was shot in the head by unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants as he was driving his motorcycle past 5 p.m. on Thursday in Barangay Prenza of the town. Pacquiao was rushed to the hospital but did not make it out alive.
Lt. Col. Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of the Central Visayas police, said they had identified the two suspects but could not reveal their names pending result in the hot pursuit operation.
In Leyte, Mateo Rasonable, 41, treasurer of Barangay Mataloto in the town of Leyte, and his companion Gelyn Gulane, 86, were on board a motorcycle driven by Rasonable in the town of Villaba when assailants shot them at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. Gulane survived despite sustaining gunshot wounds in the body, said Maj. Edwin Tolibas, chief of the Villaba police.
Fewer hot spots in NegOr
The three killings happened just as the security concerns started to ease in Negros Oriental, with the number of potential areas of concern in the province in relation to the October elections now down to nine from 27 villages.
Lawyer Eliseo Labaria, acting Negros Oriental provincial election supervisor, said on Wednesday adjustment was made upon the recommendation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police during Monday’s meeting of the Provincial Joint Security Coordinating Council.