Basilan election officer shot dead

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The election officer of Isabela City in Basilan died hours after he was shot and wounded on Saturday afternoon.

“We lost a very hard working officer,” Rey Sumalipao, election director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said of the death of Daryll Kinazo, the election officer of Isabela City.

Kinazo, 45, died before arriving at the Western Mindanao Command hospital here.

Senior Superintendent Allan Nazarro, Isabela police chief, said Kinazo suffered several bullet wounds in the body.

Kinazo was on his way home after supervising the nationwide special registration for Persons With Disabilities (PWD) at the Isabela City gym, when shot by motorcycle-riding men.

Sumalipao said the killing of Kinazo was the second case targeting election personnel in Basilan.

Two years ago, Tuburan town election officer Entong Musa, 47, was shot and killed in Isabela City while he was supervising the youth federation election.

Sumalipao urged other election personnel in Basilan to report threats “so we can arrange for their security.”

Nazarro told the Inquirer by phone that police were looking into the killing as job-related. Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao