Laoag City, 5 Ilocos Norte towns eyed as poll hotspots

By Charlie Lagasca and Teddy Molina

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte -- Police and poll officials in Ilocos Norte are now considering declaring five towns in Ilocos Norte and this capital city “areas of special concern” in the run-up to the May 13 elections following the Feb. 23 killing of a mayoral candidate in Marcos town and the earlier slay attempt on its mayor.

Supt. Jeffrey Gorospe, spokesman of the Ilocos Norte police, said this matter will be discussed when the joint panel headed by Senior Supt. Gerardo Rautita, provincial police director, and lawyer Joel Gines, election supervisor, convenes this week.

Gorospe said the police and the Commission on Elections are alarmed over the rash of violence in the province, which is not among the 15 provinces earlier tagged as election hotspots by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Last Feb. 23, motorcycle-riding men gunned town village chief Alfredo Arce, 64, who was running for Marcos town mayor as an independent. Two bystanders were hit by stray bullets.

Days earlier, Marcos Mayor Salvador Pillos survived a similar gun attack at a construction site near the Marcos Agro-industrial School.

Police believe the assaults were related.

Besides Marcos town and Laoag City, Gorospe said the towns of Sarrat, Dingras, Pagudpud and Pasiquin have heated political rivalries and have a history of politics-related violence.