In Negros Occidental, the provincial police command is seeking the relief of the entire police force of Moises Padilla town. The recommendation was made after the town’s vice mayor was ambushed last week together with her brother and a nephew who was seeking reelection as a councilor.
Vice Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo survived, but her brother Mark Garcia and nephew Michael Garcia were killed in the ambush staged reportedly by a band of about 20 assailants in a black pickup. Yulo, who is running for mayor against the incumbent, her uncle Magdaleno Peña, believes she was the principal target of the attack, but she says her brother and nephew helped her escape to safety. They had just finished conducting house-to-house campaigning on April 25 when their vehicle was riddled with gunfire.
Michael Garcia was the third councilor to be murdered in Negros Occidental since the start of the year, after Jolomar Hilario also of Moises Padilla town on March 31 and Bernardino Patigas of Escalante City on April 22.
The province is no stranger to political violence. Moises Padilla town is named after a mayoral candidate who was tortured and then murdered in 1951 reportedly by the private army of the provincial governor, after Padilla refused to withdraw his election bid.
Political violence is also not confined to Negros Occidental. Across the country, too many politicians have an abiding belief in the soundness of resorting to murder for eliminating their opponents or silencing critics.
The weakness of the criminal justice system is a major reason for this mindset. The country is still waiting for justice in the worst case of election violence in the country: the massacre of 58 people, most of them journalists, in Maguindanao way back in November 2009. The gruesome mass murder was attributed to the Ampatuans and their goons, who resented the challenge to their stranglehold on political power in the autonomous Muslim region.
With the midterm elections just two weeks away, security forces must intensify efforts to eradicate this mindset. Violence is the worst way of undermining the will of the electorate and weakening democracy. This must be stopped decisively before the impunity worsens.