Village watchman killed in Abra poll precinct shooting

BAGUIO CITY—Soldiers and police have launched a manhunt for gunmen who killed a barangay tanod and wounded two other men inside a polling precinct in Lagayan, Abra, on Monday morning.

Police named the fatality, who died from gunshot wounds, as Sacarias Manuel of Barangay (village) Pang-ot. Two of the wounded were identified as Joel Donato and Randy Villoria. Villoria is reportedly the son of the village chair.

READ: Comelec bans ‘help desks’ in Abra after shooting incident | Abra now under Comelec control–poll official

Director Benjamin Magalong, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said armed supporters of rival mayoral candidates had a shoot-out inside a precinct in the village which resulted in the casualties.

The town’s mayoral candidates are Jodel Crisologo, Jendricks Luna, Aguinaldo Suben, Antia Seares and Berna Sibayan.

Magalong was sent to Abra on Sunday to help supervise the polls. The province has been placed under the control of the Commission on Elections for being an election hotspot.

He oversaw the 2013 elections in the province when he served as Cordillera police director.

After the shooting incident, lawyer Mae Richelle Belmes-Beronilla, Abra election supervisor, directed poll officials to bar candidates and their supporters from setting up “help desks” within the voting centers.

She also barred village officials from the polling precincts after receiving reports that some barangay leaders were intimidating voters.

Updated at 1:04 p.m. to identify victims

Originally posted at 9:45 a.m.