Security teams of opposing bets clash in Nueva Ecija; cops nab 24

FIREPOWER|  Police in Nueva Ecija have laid out for inventory the high-powered firearms seized from supporters of rival political camps in General Tinio town who figured in a gunfight on Saturday night. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, Philippines — Twenty-four people, five of them wounded, were arrested following an alleged gunbattle between the security forces of rival mayoral candidates in General Tinio town in Nueva Ecija province close to midnight on Saturday, police said.

The names of the suspects were not immediately disclosed, but police said they belonged to the security forces of reelectionist Mayor Isidro Pajarillaga and his rival, former Mayor Virgilio Bote.

Capt. Ronan James Eblahan, the town’s police chief, said the clash in Purok Gulod of Barangay Concepcion happened around 11:30 p.m. and led to the wounding of civilian security personnel of Bote, all of whom were treated in a local hospital.

Deemed arrested

The wounded men were still confined at a hospital on Sunday but were considered arrested, said Police Lt. Frank Sindac, spokesperson of the Nueva Ecija Police Provincial Office.

The others who were arrested were 19 men belonging to Pajarillaga’s group.

Eblahan said police forces were conducting checkpoints when they received the information about the shooting incident.

“Upon arrival of the responding officers, they saw one white Nissan Navarra and gray Ford Raptor, both with bullet holes, and four wounded personnel of mayoralty candidate Bote,” he reported.

A search on 19 of Pajarillaga’s men who were found beside a pickup truck yielded five M16 rifles, 11 .45-caliber pistols, three 9-millimeter pistols, one .40-caliber pistol, and one 12-gauge shotgun, police said.

Also found in the vicinity of the place of the encounter were one 12-gauge shotgun and one .45-caliber pistol, 71 5.56-caliber ammunition, 138 .45-caliber live bullets, 41 caliber 9-mm bullets, 12 .40-caliber live ammunition, eight shotgun bullets, six magazines for M16 rifles, 26 magazines for pistols, and eight holsters.

Details on the cause of the gunfight and who fired the first shot were still under investigation.

It was also not clear how the men were able to get around with high-powered firearms considering the election gun ban in place in the country.

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