A spokesman for the Nicolas Monteverde Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) called radio station dxIF in Butuan City to claim responsibility for the killing of Mayor Lope Asis of Bayugan town.
Asis had just stepped down from a stage and was making his way through the crowd shaking hands when a man shot him in the nape and chest, provincial police chief Ramon Espiritu said.
The NPA spokesman, who identified himself only as Commander Deric, said Asis was an alleged drug lord and was one of seven Agusan del Sur mayors the rebels have marked for liquidation.
Nearly an hour later, Asis’ opponent, Rufino Amora, and his son, whose name was not immediately available, were also gunned down, according to reports reaching the office of Col. Fredesvindo Covarrubias, chief of the Civil Relations Group for Mindanao.
The reports added at about 5 p.m. that day, seven armed men abducted Bayugan vice mayor candidate Vicente Incedencia and three councilor bets, namely Francisco Sarmiento Jr., Gregorio Bordios and Adriano Gadia Sr., all belonging to the ruling party.
Local radio station dxRZ said they had come from a campaign rally when the seven armed men, wearing black attire and Scout Ranger badges and bonnets, seized them in Barangay New Salem, 46 kilometers from the Bayugan poblacion.
The kidnappers left six other members of Incedencia’s group tied up. The NPA spokesman denied any role in the abduction.
Reports said Lorna Amora, Asis’ rival, was also in the convoy but escaped after hearing gunshots fired ahead of her.
Meanwhile, in nearby Lapaz town, the mayor, Rufino Toralba, and his father Oscar, a former mayor, were seized by armed men inside the municipal hall, also last Tuesday.
Covarrubias said combined police-military teams were tracking down father and son and Incedencia’s party. — With Ben Serrano