Killing of politicians

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The recent spate of killing of politicians nationwide hugged the media limelight the past weeks.
    Now local chief executives want better coordination with the Philippine National Police amid concerns over attacks on politicians, the latest victim of whom was Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo.
    Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) president Quirino Gov. Dakila Cua aired his colleagues’ position in an interview with “The Chiefs” on One News TV.
    “It is really alarming for us in the local government that local officials are being targeted,” Cua said. “If they can do that to mayors, then how much more to ordinary businessmen or citizens – those brazen attacks.”
Local chief executives met with the PNP and the Dept. of the Interior and Local Government on Tuesday for a briefing on the status of the recent attacks.
    “With closer cooperation between local officials and police, and with the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) as well, we might be able to address these things better. What was stressed at the meeting was prevention,” he said.
    Cua said the PNP agreed to increase its coordination and cooperation with local executives, especially on intelligence sharing.
    “One of the things we discussed was the need for cooperation between local authorities or local officials and police. We discussed the mayors and their control and supervision of the police in their municipalities and provinces, so we can exchange intelligence,” he added.
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Local executives said they hope the PNP would step up efforts to dismantle private armed groups, especially those whose members have specialized training from law enforcement agencies.
    “That’s one of the things we can collaborate better, local officials and police heads. These private armed groups are easy to identify and monitor. These guys, the police know them already. The police (during the meeting) said they can take a deeper look into the matter,” the ULAP president said.
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Aparri, Cagayan Vice Mayor Rommel Alameda was among six people killed in an ambush in Nueva Vizcaya province on Feb. 19.
    Alameda was with five companions aboard a van that was parked outside a school in Sitio Kinacao, Barangay Baretbet, Bagabag town, when a group of gunmen fired at their vehicle.
    A report from the police station in Bagabag said the suspects were “more or less six people” onboard a white Mitsubishi Adventure with plate number SFN 713.
    Authorities are hunting down the gunmen who immediately fled the crime scene.
    Alameda has been vice mayor of Aparri since 2019. He won a second term in May 2022 after a tight race.
    The ULAP earlier condemned the ambush as a “cowardly act” and called for justice for Alameda.
    “Vice Mayor Alameda is a friend to many of his colleagues and was well-loved by the residents of Aparri,” said ULAP in a statement on April 5.
    “We demand swift and immediate justice to assure our people that the law is able to protect them and to show criminals that the law will quickly subdue them.”
    “With the case of our vice mayor in Aparri, we have persons of interest that are being pursued by our investigators,” PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said on Monday.
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News reports also said Mayor Ohto Montawal of Datu Montawal, Maguindanao, was also shot and wounded inside his vehicle along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City on Feb. 22. 
    “I would say that these are isolated cases, but still, these are killings that need to be solved and to be pursued by our law enforcement agencies in investigating the cause or the motive behind the attacks,” Azurin said.
     “We are trying to see why most of the killings of politicians happen when they’re far from their jurisdiction, so we’re advising them to continue the threat assessment,” he said.
    Azurin also urged local government officials to tap the PNP for additional security assistance when traveling outside their coverage areas.
    Earlier, Azurin ordered regional offices of the PNP to conduct a threat assessment on the local government officials within the scope of their responsibility.
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In the case of the murder of Negros Oriental governor Degamo, it was “Congressman Teves” who ordered the killing, according to two of the alleged suspects now in custody of the NBI.
    Suspects Joric Labrador, 50, and Benjie Rodriguez, 45, were shown on TV tagging “Congressman Teves” as the mastermind while they were being escorted to detention at the NBI headquarters in Manila after being moved from the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame, Quezon City.
    Reports said it was unclear if the two were referring to current Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. or his brother Pryde Henry who previously held the same post.
    The two suspects said they readily agreed to the hit after Teves made them believe that their target was a drug lord in the province. Two other suspects – Osmundo Rivero and Joven Aber – are also in NBI custody. Five others are still at large.
    PNP spokesperson Jean Fajar­do said the two suspects were transferred to the NBI after they expressed readiness to give their extrajudicial confession on the March 4 attack, which also killed eight other people and wounded several others.
    Labrador claimed he had no idea that their target was Degamo and that they had originally been offered job as VIP security. The former military man said his only role in Degamo’s assassination was to secure the perimeter and that he was not in the Degamo compound during the shooting.
    Rodriguez, for his part, said they only communicated with a certain “Marvin” who directly gave them the hit order. But when asked who was giving orders to Marvin, Rodriguez said it was Teves.
    Over the years, adversaries of politicians have usually been blamed for such killings.
    There was one case wherein an Abra politician was also killed in Manila some years ago allegedly on orders of another Abra politician.
    Over the years, Abra had been considered a hotspot due to such killings. But in most parts of Cordillera, it may be due to culture that politicians don’t kill each other. 
    They slug it out in airwaves or rallies, but when elections are done, losing candidates congratulate winners.
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Anyhow, developments on rising cases of political killings are being monitored by media.
    It is in times like these that credibility in reportage is when one can rely on “mainstream media.”
    It is a disgrace when vloggers or bloggers come up with their stories on such matters lacking in research and substance and spew it out to the public through their internet platforms.