Espinosa kin urged to stay calm

Malacañang appealed to the family and relatives of Masbate City Mayor Moises Espinosa Jr. not to "take the law into their own hands" and avenge his death.

Press Undersecretary Roberto Capco told The STAR yesterday authorities are conducting a thorough investigation on Espinosa’s assassination early last Friday morning during a dance at a fiesta in the coastal barangay of Bantigue.

"Justice is served when the full process of the law is applied, not when anyone takes the matter into their hands," he said. "We have to give full support to the ongoing investigation."

Capco said President Arroyo has condoled with the Espinosa family, and that it is sad that such act of violence had again occurred in the country.

"But it (the killing) is an isolated case," he said.

Mario Espinosa, the victim’s brother, warned last Saturday more violence might take place "if justice is not served" and the killers of his brother are not brought before the courts of law.

"I will not let this go until a convincing solution is found," he said. "Otherwise, we will just shoot it out because we will be wiped out completely."

Mario Espinosa, a former Masbate vice governor, said he and San Jacinto town Mayor Aries Espinosa are the only living second- generation Espinosas.

Before Mayor Espinosa’s murder, his father, Moises Sr., a congressman, was assassinated at the Masbate airport on March 17, 1989, while his uncle Tito, also a congressman, was ambushed and killed at Batasan Road and Commonwealth Avenue near the House of Representatives in Quezon City on Feb. 27, 1998.

A fixture in Masbate politics since the 1920s, the Espinosa family has been contending with the Kho and Fernandez families for control of the island province for decades. – Paolo Romero