Basilan town poll officer shot dead

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A municipal election officer in Basilan was gunned down by a lone assassin in Isabela City, the provincial capital, last Saturday night, authorities said.

The killing took place with only three weeks before the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

Senior Superintendent Cristeto Rey Gonzalodo, Basilan police director, said the victim, Entong Musang, 47, election officer of Tuburan town, was shot with a caliber .45 pistol while on his way home at around 6:40 p.m. Saturday along Calle Posporo in Barangay San Rafael.

Police quoted witnesses as saying that the gunman escaped on board a motorcycle.

Musang, Gonzalodo said, sustained three gunshot wounds in different parts of the body.

The election officer was rushed to the Basilan General Hospital but was declared dead on arrival, Gonzalodo said.

Investigators were looking on the possibility that Musang’s killing was related to the failure of elections in some areas in Tuburan town during the previous polls.

Chief Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said he has directed the Basilan police to form a special investigating team to solve Musang’s killing.

Police have recommended that at least 38 barangays in Basilan be classified as areas of concern in the forthcoming barangay and SK elections.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Raul Bacalzo earlier said the Joint Security Control Center was monitoring 2,300 barangays across the country where violence might erupt in the run-up to the barangay and SK polls.

Bacalzo said authorities were also closely watching 107 private armies, which could sow election-related violence.

A national gun ban is in place until Nov. 10 in connection with the barangay elections. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe