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By Armand Galang, Correspondent
A candidate for municipal
councilor and a police sergeant were killed while 12 others,
including brothers running for mayor and vice-mayor, were wounded
when supporters of two political kingpins in Nueva Ecija shot it out
in Jaen town Thursday night.
It was the latest and worst
outbreak of violence in the run-up to the May 14 election, which has
already claimed at least 20 lives.
Killed were candidate for
councilor Rufino Galang, 54, and SPO1 Bobby Ferrer, 44.
Wounded were Mark Anthony
Esquivel, who is running for mayor in Jaen, and his brother and
running mate, Mark Lawrence; their security escorts SPO1 Noly Rey
Perez, SPO2 Elmer Bautista, PO2 Egbert Castillo, PO1 Emerson Nagano,
PO2 Nestor Ramos, PO1 Michael Valenzuela, Conrado Reyes of Barangay
San Bartolome, Quezon City; Ireneo Yadro, Teofila Mangunay and
Patricio Belen.
The Esquivel brothers had to be
rushed to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan for
emergency surgery after suffering gunshot wounds to the head.
Jaen has been identified by the
Commission on Elections as an election hot spot due to intense
political rivalries there.
The brothers are the sons of
former Jaen mayor Antonino Prospero Esquivel, who is the bitter
political enemy of Rep. Rodolfo Antonino.
Senior Supt. Allen Bantolo,
Philippine National Police provincial director, said the shootout
took place at about half past 10 Thursday night when the elder
Esquivel’s convoy passed by Barangay Dampulan where Antonino’s
group was holding a campaign rally.
Antonino called up the police to
set up a checkpoint. Minutes later, the convoy returned and was
flagged down by police.
Shots rang out but police have
not determined who fired first.
Antonino and Esquivel were allies
of Vice-Governor Mariano Cristino Joson, the provincial chairman of
Kampi. Joson is running for mayor in the May election.
Esquivel has since distanced
himself from Joson and joined the Liberal Party. He has accused
Antonino of planning to assassinate him.
Antonino has denied Esquivel’s
claims.
The Manila Times learned that
before the shooting Antonino and the Esquivel had a heated argument
at the wake of Victoriano Villarta, the National Bureau of
Investigation deputy director for intelligence service Tuesday
night.
The shooting took place three
days after three barangay officials were killed in Talugtog town
Tuesday night.
The Philippine National Police
chief, Director General Oscar Calderon, recommended that Nueva Ecija
be placed under the control of the Commission on Elections.
Calderon also told a press
briefing in Camp Crame that with Comelec’s approval he had ordered
the relief of Chief Insp. Melencio Atendido as Jaen police chief.
“We cannot say what happened
considering the two parties involved are political leaders. But
definitely we could consider this is a politically motivated
incident,” Calderon said.
He said part of security measures
being implemented in the province was to place all provincial police
personnel under one command.
“We will try to put the
security forces under one command, one control, one unit so that all
those who will be assigned to secure the contending parties are
familiar with one another,” Calderon said.
There were 148 deaths recorded
during the presidential elections in 2004 and 111 deaths linked to
the congressional and local elections in 2001, police officials have
said.
--With Anthony Vargas and AFP
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