By Miriam G. Desacada
Palo,Leyte–A joint team of police operatives and military troops have been dispatched yesterday to the towns of the Third District of Leyte, as well as to the First District of Samar particularly Calbayog City.
These areas were recently declared by the Comelec and the PNP as immediate areas of concern due to a series of violent incidents over the weeks before the October 30 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
The deployment of these uniformed law enforcers, together with Comelec personnel, to these areas was decided by poll authorities without waiting for the situation to worsen there that would prompt the declaration of these places under Comelec control, including the tagging of barangays under red, orange or yellow categories.
In Leyte’s 3rd district, the identifiable places that were troubled by violent incidents recently were the towns of Leyte, Villaba, and San Isidro.
The latest killing incident in the 3rd district was on Monday morning in Villaba, Leyte where a man, driving his motorcycle was shot dead on the spot. Investigation on the motive of the killing is still underway.
Initial police investigation showed that the victim was a brother-in-law of a former barangay captain of Barangay Mataloto in Leyte town of Leyte. The ex-barangay captain was also killed in an ambush at the same place where the latest shooting was carried out. Earlier in the same barangay, a candidate for councilor was also shot dead.
On October 21, the house of an SK kagawad candidate in Mataloto was strafed by yet unidentified assailants. He survived unscathed, but there was yet no lead on who were the attackers and for what motive.
In another shooting at Poblacion in Leyte, Leyte, a candidate for SK chairman and his two supporters were shot but survived the attack.
On October 17, a retired teacher from Barangay Biasong in San Isidro town was shot dead in an ambush at Barangay Crossing of the same town.
On October 5, the barangay treasurer of Mataloto was shot dead—his companion a KALAHI personnel escaped with a serious injury—during an ambush near a hospital at Barangay Cabungahan in Villaba, Leyte.
In separate dates the past months, August and September, three village chiefs, and a private practicing lawyer were recorded to have been shot dead in Villaba town.
Almost all of the shooting incidents took place within the election period, but Leyte Provincial Police Office (LPPO) Director, P/Colonel Erwin Portillo, said the PNP could not yet state that these were election-related violence due to lack of sufficient evidences yet to back such declaration.
Leyte Governor Carlos Jericho “Icot” Petilla, in a recent interview, told the local media: “We have deployed uniformed personnel to the 3rd district. We are trying to prevent more violence by putting more visibility. We are pouring our resources there as my instruction to the police is to focus their mission there.”
Even if the district is not yet under Comelec control, Petilla said: “Peace is the most practical thing and, we all agree, it is difficult to implement. It’s easier said than done, but we are doing our best.”
The governor got some unverified information yet that there are private armed groups in the district that are trying to outdo each other to benefit the political advantage of a certain politician. “So far, what we learned is that the killings are a series of vendetta, involving a certain group retaliating the killing of a member of another group.” This has to be verified though, he added. —Miriam G. Desacada