Civic leaders in Cagayan are appealing to President Benigno Aquino III to step in and stop what they said is the continuing harassment that perceived rivals of a powerful political clan in the province are suffering from.
“There is public outcry against the violence done to the people,” said Minehaha Liggayu, a lawyer from the provincial legal office, said in a statement.
“We were asked by different officials, groups, sectors and ordinary citizens to create a venue where the Cagayanos can speak,” Liggayu said.
A rally was set yesterday afternoon during which representatives from various sectors in Cagayan are expected to be present and speak out against cases of intimidation and violence before and after the May 13 elections in the province.
The statement quoted Zosimo Reboredo, village chief of Barsat East in Baggao, Cagayan, as saying he was threatened on the phone by someone who apparently has ties with the Mamba family, a political clan allied with President Aquino.
Reboredo, the statement said, is appealing for the President’s help because he was threatened by the caller that should Mamba lose in his village, “he would come for me.”
Another village chief, Reymundo Duldulao, of Masical also in Baggao, narrated the same experience, according to the statement.
Duldulao said men with links to the Mambas threatened to go to his house if he supported a candidate other than Mamba.