Surigao governor escapes slay try
Balita News
TWO-TERM Surigao del Sur Gov. Primo Murillo and his four
escorts were ambushed yesterday at around 10 a.m. in Barangay
Union in Lingig town. They survived.
But businessman Mario Ng, 39, who was running for councilor
in Binalonan, Pangasinan, was not as lucky. He was shot dead
Thursday night.
The ambush on Murillo is the 26th election-related violence
recorded by the Philippine National Police.
Sixteen candidates running for various local positions had been
killed so far in the run-up to the May 11 elections.
Also on Thursday night, a bomb exploded inside the Notre
Dame University (NDU) in Cotabato City, minutes after Speaker
Jose de Venecia left a Lakas-NUCD proclamation rally.
No one was killed but Leonardo Ninte, an NDU employee, was
wounded.
Renato de Villa, Reporma presidential candidate, said the series
of election-related violence in Mindanao ''bears watching'' in
light of Election Commissioner Manolo Gorospe's warning of a
possible failure of elections on the island.
Armalite bullets missed Murillo but injured all his escorts.
''Mabuti buhay pa ako. Grabe ang pagka-ambush sa ako (It's
good I'm still alive. The ambush was too much),'' Murillo, a
40-year-old doctor and a Lakas-NUCD candidate, told the
Inquirer.
Almost 13 years ago, on Oct. 23, 1985, Murillo's father, Gregorio,
then governor, was killed in an ambush in the capital town of
Tandag, while on board an open-type jeep en route to a radio
station.
Injured during yesterday's ambush were policemen Zairel Sanico
and Marvin Quijada, Army soldier Dionisio Baquial and civilian
escort Arnulfo Garrido.
They were taken to the district hospital here, some three hours
by motor vehicle from Lingig town. Quijada and Bacquial were
in serious condition.
Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza dispatched
helicopters to airlift the seriously injured to Davao City.
Murillo blamed yesterday's ambush and the 1985 ambush on his
father on the Ty-Pimentel clan.
Murillo's candidacy for a third term is being contested by Vice
Gov. Johnny Ty Pimentel, who is running under the Laban ng
Makabayang Masang Pilipino (LAMMP).
Murillo said a brother of Johnny had also attempted to kill him
during the barangay elections last year.
The Pimentels could not be reached for comment.
Murillo recalled that he was driving his white Pathfinder in the
poblacion of Barangay Union on his way to Barangay San
Roque when he saw three heavily armed men milling with the
crowd. One of them was wearing an Army uniform.
As he was driving through, Murillo said, he saw a girl being
forced to cross the street.
Murillo said he slowed down to avoid hitting the girl and
decided to swerve the vehicle for fear that the armed men were
targeting them.
''Didto mi gibakbakan ug armalite'' (they fired on us using
armalites). ''Immediately, four of my escorts were hit. I sped to
the nearest Army detachment around 10 minutes away,'' he said.
The assailants ''knew I will be going to the barangay sorties. I
think they slept overnight,'' Murillo said He also disclosed that
last year, during the election of the federation of the association
of barangay captains at the PNP camp in Tandag, Vice Gov.
Johnny Pimentel's brother Clarence, attempted to shoot him
after Alex, another Pimentel brother, was defeated in the
election.
''Fortunately, a policeman embraced Clarence and convinced him
not to shoot me,'' he said.
Murillo said he suspected that one of the three armed men who
ambushed him yesterday was Gerry Inion, a former Army soldier
and ''gun for hire.'' Inion is a bodyguard of Murillo's rival
Johnny Pimentel.
Murillo said Inion, who was hired by Pimentel's office in
January, shot PO1 Roderick Abis on March 1 and fled toward
Pimentel's house.
Inion managed to escape despite the fact that Pimentel's house
had been surrounded.
Murillo said his father's killer, Diosdado Avila, was sentenced to
life imprisonment but served for about three years only in
Muntinlupa allegedly on the representations of Rep. Mario
Serra Ty and then acting Gov. Felicidad Ty Pimentel, mother of
his rival Johnny.
Felicidad assumed the post of governor after Murillo's father
was killed.
Ty, a third-term representative, is fielding his son Alvin, to run
for his post.
On April 26, gunmen strafed the vehicle convoy of Reporma
mayoral candidate Rodel Mañara in Barangay Tamontaka, killing
a pregnant bystander and wounding seven others.
On April 13, Lakas reelectionist Mayor Abdullah Paglas was
killed with two others in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.
In Barangay Aliwagwag, Cateel, Davao Oriental, a Lakas
candidate for councilor was shot dead Sunday while on his way
up the stage to speak during a rally.
Killed was council candidate Grancito Espirutoso Lucentales,
45.
Fear is gripping this vote-rich province of Pangasinan, after two
LAMMP supporters were shot dead here and in San Carlos City
this week.
Ng, who owned the biggest establishment in Binalonan, was
gunned down by a group of unidentified men inside his store in
the poblacion Thursday night.
Ng's relatives said he was being ''pressured'' by some local
officials to join Lakas-NUCD, but he politely turned down the
offer as he was already committed to LAMMP.
Councilor Fernando Javonilla said Ng repeatedly ignored his
family's plea for him withdraw.
Two weeks ago, Ng's store here was gutted by fire. Police arson
investigators have yet to identify and arrest the suspects.
Javonilla said power was cut off at the LAMMP headquarters
here and at Ng's store a few minutes before he was killed.
''Witnesses refused to come out in the open. They fear for their
lives. I doubt if there would be peaceful elections in the town,''
he said.
Ng's assassination was not the first in this province during the
election campaign.
Last Wednesday, Romeo Tuazon, Panguloan barangay captain
in San Carlos City, was ambushed in broad daylight by four
heavily armed men near the city hall.
Two weeks ago, Dagupan City Councilor Elmer Quinto and his
bodyguard, SPO1 Richard Daliaon, were killed while attending a
campaign sortie in Barangay Lucao. Quinto was seeking
reelection under Lakas-NUCD-Kampi ticket.
Tuazon, 56, an inspector of the Central Pangasinan Electric
Cooperative, was on his way home when a group of armed men
fired at him.