Eastern Visayas police regional director Chief Superintendent Eliseo dela Paz said the victim, Dominador de Luna, 53, was walking along Del Rosario Street in Catbalogan, the capital town of Samar, when his assailants shot him at close range around 9 a.m. yesterday with caliber .45 pistol. The victim was dead on the spot, according to witnesses. The perpetrators immediately fled from the crime scene.
Police initial investigation said board member De Luna and her husband are holding key positions in the militant party list group Bayan Muna in the province of Samar.
Dela Paz expressed alarm over these series of killing incidents in Samar while the election period is going full swing. Dela Paz could not confirm whether this incident is an election related violence considering that police authorities are just about to start its formal investigation in De Luna’ s killing.
"We cannot confirm yet if this incident is an election-related case, investigators are still doing its investigation, mahirap kung sasabihin natin may kinalaman ito sa election na wala tayong basihan," Dela Paz told The Star.
The PNP regional chief yesterday dispatched around 125 police personnel coming from the Police Regional Mobile Group to augment Samar’s present police force so that they could help secure the entire area.
Senior Superintendent Asdali Abah, Samar PNP provincial director in a separate interview, said that they already placed Samar province under red alert status while beefing up its implementation of gun ban, through the installation of check points and mobile check-points to preempt the occurrence of incidents that would disrupt peaceful elections on May 14.
"We are already on alert. As of now we are exerting all efforts to prevent violence in my area of jurisdiction," Abah said.
The killing of De Luna was the third incident during this election period. Augusto Daclitan provincial coordinator of the Alliance of Nationalism and Democracy, an anti-communist movement, was also killed in front of the capitol in Catbalogan town a couple of weeks ago. This incident was again followed last week, when Mayor Benito Astorga of Daram town was gunned down by still unidentified suspects.