ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A mayoral candidate of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) in Sominot town in Zamboanga del Sur survived an ambush unscathed last Sunday, police said.
Retired fire officer Proceso Estrada Sr., along with a companion, was headed home after campaigning when four men fired at him with M-16 assault rifles, according to Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman of the regional police. Estrada’s companion was unharmed, too.
Police pursued the gunmen but failed to catch any of them. Based on the witnesses’ accounts, two of them were identified as Jesryl Bate and Jaylord Jumawan.
Investigators suspect that the ambush was election-related but were still digging deeper into it.
In Western Mindanao, meanwhile, Army officials have called on the relatives and followers of ambushed Nunungan, Lanao del Norte Mayor Abdulmalik Manamparan not to take the law into their hands.
“We are encouraging the relatives and supporters of the victims to use our legal system to bring the perpetrators to justice,†said Brig. Gen. Daniel Lucero, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry “Tabak†Division.
Manamparan, who was wounded in the April 25 attack that left 14 people dead, including his daughter Adiana, himself called on his supporters not to resort to violence to get even with the ambushers. Seven others were wounded in the incident.
Manamparan is on his last term as Nunungan mayor and is running for vice mayor under the Nationalist People’s Coalition. Authorities believe that the ambush stemmed from rido or clan war that had been settled but resurfaced due to intense political rivalry in Nunungan, a hinterland town with 11,483 registered voters. – With Jaime Laude