EDITORIAL - Another candidate shot

The scenic municipality of Infanta in Quezon is known for its production of lambanog or distilled palm liquor and breeding of giant mountain snails called bayugo. The peace in the bucolic town was shattered over the weekend, with the town mayor herself being shot inside her car shortly after she attended Sunday mass.

Mayor Filipina Grace America was wounded but survived the assassination attempt and is currently recuperating in a hospital in Manila. Seven bullet casings were found at the site of the ambush. America is running for reelection in May under the banner of the Nacionalista Party, against Eriberto Combalicer Escueta of the Nationalist People’s Coalition and independent candidate Ednon Peñamora Verano.

America is a vocal opponent of the construction of the Kaliwa Dam, which will serve as an alternative source of water for Metro Manila, whose traditional water sources can no longer meet the demands of the booming population. Indigenous communities to be displaced by the Kaliwa Dam are opposing the project, which is being undertaken by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System with China Energy Engineering Corp. as the contractor. The dam, a flagship Build Build Build project of the Duterte administration, is financed by a $283.2-million loan from China.

Probers are facing a blank wall on the mayor’s ambush and have appealed to the public to provide any leads. Police said it was too early to say if the attack was politically motivated. Infanta is a small town, with a population of 76,186 as of the 2020 census. Its registered voters stood at 37,452 as of the midterm elections in 2019 – up from the 31,427 in the 2016 general elections.

Election-related assassinations, however, have been carried out even in smaller towns with voting populations of only about 5,000. America was lucky to survive the barrage of gunfire. Many others have not been as fortunate; armed violence has become a fixture in all elections in this country, and murder has become the ultimate tool for eliminating political rivals. The attack on the Infanta mayor should remind authorities that more effort is needed, starting with catching the perpetrators, to curb the violence.