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ONE year ago this month, former three-term Mayor
Julian “Jolly” Resuello of San Carlos City (Pangasinan) was
felled by assassins’ bullets at the city plaza during a beauty
pageant highlighting the annual city fiesta.
On April 28, the day of the
tragedy, the city government led by his son, Mayor Julier “Ayoy”
Resuello, will commemorate his first death anniversary. The
family’s lament is that up till now, one year since the
assassination, the crime has remained unsolved.
Mayor Julier has appealed to
President Arroyo to order the police and the NBI to intensify
efforts to bring the culprits to justice.
The former mayor was gunned down
while he was greeting a huge crowd of constituents during the
coronation of Miss San Carlos City. Killed with him was his security
escort, Jojo Martinez. Three others were wounded, including SPO1
Jimmy Almoite.
The police have arrested a
suspect, Angelito Soriano, a few days after the tragedy while he was
being treated for a gunshot wound at the Elguira General Hospital in
the city. But they have failed to obtain from Soriano any clue
leading to the solution of the case.
One of the suspected gunmen,
Cezar “Cabeza” de Guzman, is at large, and a P1-million reward
has been put up for his arrest.
The slain mayor, a rabid
supporter of the President, had led the campaign for her election in
the 2004 poll against her presidential rival—San Carlos’ native
son, the late movie king Fernando Poe Jr.
In last year’s election, he ran
for vice mayor because, having finished three consecutive terms, he
was not eligible for reelection. He ran in the Lakas ticket of which
his son Julier was the mayoral standard bearer.
Critically wounded during the
shooting, he was rushed to the St. Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City
where he later died.
The tragedy had plunged the city
into a state of grief. Jolly’s supporters, quick to milk the
emotional angle of the tragedy, hung huge portraits of the wounded
mayor at vantage points of the city plaza and in strategic areas in
the barangays. A state of mourning was declared.
On Election Day, Julier was swept
to victory by a tide of sympathy votes. His younger brother, Bogs,
who ran for vice mayor in place of their father, also won
overwhelmingly.
The Resuello family made two
“historic firsts” in San Carlos City. The first was in the 2004
election when the city elected Jolly as mayor and his son Julier as
vice mayor. The second was during the last election when Julier was
elected mayor and his brother Bogs as vice mayor.
The slain mayor was credited with
bringing Manila to San Carlos with the rise of fast-food chains and
shopping malls, the development of new markets and the introduction
of urban amenities.
His assassination raises the
question over safety of candidates for public office. Former PNP
Director General Oscar Calderon, citing statistics during the
pre-election period from January to April last year, said there were
97 shootings in which 30 persons were killed and 54 others were
wounded.
Included in these incidents were
the assassination of Santa Fe mayoral bet Rogelio Ilustrisimo in
Cebu, the fatal ambush of a town council candidate and a policeman
in Jaen, Nueva Ecija, and the fatal shooting of an aide of
congressional candidate Joselito Brillantes in Compostela Valley.
Casualty figures during and after
the 2007 election were not available. Many of the killings have
remained unsolved.
Philippine elections are one of
the most dangerous periods in a nation’s life. In a setting where
private armies are prevalent and perpetrate poll-related violence
with impunity, the government is virtually helpless to enforce law
and order.
Many political warlords rule
fiefdoms in the countryside, perpetuating dynasties in their
electoral districts through coercive means to get themselves or
members of their families elected to public office. It is folly, if
not suicidal, for anyone to run against their chosen candidates.
This is what makes politics a
most risky career. Politicians obsessed with power will do anything
to win an election. This gives rise to rampant political killings in
the country.
Those inclined to run for public
office risk meeting their untimely death. Many who ignored the
warning and decided to run have died long before their
time—victims of unsolved political killings.
agr0324@yahoo.com
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