Angeles vice mayoral candidate’s HQ strafed

ANGELES CITY — The electoral campaign here seems to be heating up as another headquarters, this time of a vice mayoral candidate, were peppered with bullets last Thursday night.

The attack occurred just a day after the house of a mayoral bet’s campaigner was also strafed in Barangay Pandan here.

Police said the campaign headquarters of vice mayoral candidate Irineo Alvaro at the HRH Enterprises building along the MacArthur Highway in Ba—rangay Pandan was fired at at about 10 p.m.

Alvaro, a three-term city councilor, is the running mate of Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) mayoral bet Robin Nepo—muceno.

Two witnesses told investigators that the shots were apparently fired from a car with license plate TJL-766 which sped south after the incident. No one was hurt in the attack.

Last Wednesday night, the house of Benny Villavicencio, Nepomuceno’s campaigner, was also strafed.

Villavicencio and his family had to temporarily abandon their home for fear of their safety.

Alvaro said both incidents could be politically motivated. He did not elaborate.

Senior Superintendent Jimmy Restua, city police chief, said they are looking deeper into the two cases. He declined to say if politics was involved.

Restua doubted the veracity of the attack on Villavicencio’s home, saying that people in the nearby barangay hall did not hear any gunshots.

He berated the head of police Station 3 in the barangay for failing to report the incident promptly.

"My orders were for my field men to immediately call me about such incidents. In the Pandan incident, I got no information until late Thursday and the police officer reasoned he simply forgot to inform me. I will look into this," he said.

Nepomuceno and Alvaro are running against incumbents Mayor Carmelo Lazatin and Vice Mayor Ricardo Zalamea , both of Lakas-CMD.

The Lazatins and the Nepomucenos are long-time political rivals, dominating local politics since the 1950s.

Last Feb. 22, Ponciano Palo, the city’s deputy election registrar, was gunned down in front of his house, also in Barangay Pandan.

Nepomuceno’s elder brother, Rep. Francis Nepomuceno, is seeking re-election in Pampanga’s first district against Lazatin’s daughter Janet.