Cotabato election officer shot

COTABATO CITY , Philippines  – A still unidentified gunman shot and seriously wounded the election officer of Libungan, North Cotabato yesterday, just five days after two suspects gunned down the poll official of Tulunan town in the same province.

Investigators said the wounded election officer, Lyndon Gutierrez, was on his way home from a tennis court in the town proper of Libungan when the gunman casually approached, pulled a handgun from his waist and shot him in the head.

The suspect casually walked away from the scene, according to witnesses.

Responding bystanders and policemen from a nearby roadside security outpost rushed him to a hospital here, where he is fighting for his life.

Doctors gave Gutierrez a 50-50 survival chance.

North Cotabato Gov. Jesus Sacdalan, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, said he has ordered the Libungan police to expedite the investigation on the attempt to kill Gutierrez.

“Criminal charges must also be filed against the gunman immediately once he has been fully identified,” Sacdalan told The Star via text message.

Gutierrez was shot just five days after two men riding a motorcycle in tandem gunned down Francisco Mecutuan Jr., along a busy highway in Mlang, North Cotabato.

Mecutuan was the election officer of Tulunan, a vote-rich town in the second district of North Cotabato.

Local officials in Tulunan are convinced the murder of Mecutuan was politically motivated.

Mecutuan, who was to retire from government service in July, started an investigation on the reported padding of voters’ list in Tulunan prior to the 2007 elections three weeks before he was killed. – John Unson