Election 2010 (May 10, 2010) was violent countrywide, as Elections always are in the Philippines. Of course Mindanao always bears the brunt of this violence and Misamis Occidental was no exception, sadly. Though less volataile than other parts of the island it still gained no immunity from the bloodletting. Located in North-Central Mindanao, bordering Misamis Oriental Province, the Zamobanga Peninsula, and Lanao del Norte Province the low intensity conflict is unavoidable, geography being what it is.
The first incident took place on December 5th, 2009 in the municipality of Concepcion when a Barangay Captain from the Nacionalista Party was killed by a man armed with a 45 pistol. In an unusual turn of events however the killer was arrested in March of 2010 in the province's Oroquieta City. The sad and highly predictable news is that he remained mum as to who had contracted the killing and the circumstances surrounding it.
On December 20th, 2009 in Barangay Tabo-o in the town of Jimenez local political affairs journalist Daniel "Danny" Pilar was feeding his chickens at the back of his home when an unknown attacker threw an M79 fragmentation grenade over his roof in an attempt to kill him. The grenade landed on the rear portion of the roff before rolling down the highly inclined tarpaper and landed between two slots in a large jalousie window. Unfortunately, Mr. Pilar's father in law, Rodolfo Dulam, was sitting in a chair next to that window reading a newspaper when it detonated. Critically wounded he was rushed to the hospital as the entire family immediately entered the government's brand new Witness Protection Program [sic] which operates very differently from Western programmes of that sort in that one need not be involved in a court proceeding to take advantage of it. Journalists, a very vulnerable demographic in the Philippines have become a hot item on the political agenda with the new Task Force 211 having been created for the investigation of violent crimes against them, thus enabling them to also take advantage of the aforementioned programme.
Mr.Pilar had voluntarily put his local television programme, "Analysis" on a 1 year hiatus and had just restarted production 2 weeks prior to the attack. He had been working on a story targeting a local politician and the Election being what it is, voila. His show, on Misamis Cable Channel #6 focuses on misdeeds of local politicians and overall corruption.
March 6th, 2010 in Barangay Maca-libre Bajo in Oroquieta City, Barangay Captain Lopez Jaena was shot to death by two men who were both armed with 45 pistols. On Election Day votes were still openly bought even though the incumbent was dead, showing just how deeply entrenched these practices really are.
April 13th, 2010 in the municipality of Plaridel a Lakas-KAMPI-CMD campaign organiser was killed by an unknown gunman with a 45 caliber pistol.
That same day in Ozamiz City's Barangay Bacolod the Barangay Captain shot a Liberal Party campaign worker to death in a fight over the Liberal Party candidate, his rival for higher office (Barangay Elections are in October).
The next day, April 14th, 2010, at 4PM on Don Anselmo Bernard Avenue on the borders of Barangays Catadman and Manabay, in Ozamiz City, Barangay Councilor and ex-radio journalist Edwin Sigue (sometimes misspelled as "Segue") was shot to death as he drove his SUV. The killer, riding tandem on a motorcycle shot him three times with a 45 caliber pistol as Mr.Sigue was en route to Clarin in that same province.
Though Mr.Sigue had resigned from his jounalism position after winning his seat as a Barangay Councilor in the previous election (2007), his show had been concentrating on political issues and the station carrying it, FM-DXDB, based in Ozamiz City, reported that they had still been receiving death treats over the issues he had discussed. He was also working as a part time Election Co-ordinator for a candidate running in the 2010 Election for Vice Governor with the campaign being based in Ozamiz City. Shortly before he was killed he had been pressured and threatened to stop his work for that candidate so that it is believed he was killied because of that other candidate and/or his past journalism work and not neccessarily because of his own position as a Councilor.
On April 16th, 2010 in Barangay San Isidro in the town of Calamba, Barangay Councilor and Lakas-KAMPI-CMD party organiser Luciano Sayson was killed making him the 5th Barangay official to be killed in Calamba this Election (I cannot give details on the others since I was unable to find any corroborative information). Reportedly, his death makes 2 Barangay Councilors and 3 Barangay Captains killed just in that 1 small community.
That same day in Barangay Upper Dapitan in the town of Concepcion, Barangay Captain Danny Elianic, a supporter of incumbent Mayor Pilota, was approached by Roldan Tinae, a well known gunman for (then) Vice Mayor Juanidy Vina who was hoping to unseat Mayor Pilota. Sensing that Vina wanted to do more than talk, Elianic made a run for it. As he correctly surmised, Tinae began unloading shots from his 45 caliber pistol causing Elianic to jump off a roadside cliff and into a steep ravine. Hitting the bottom, he escaped death by rolling as Tinae furiously took pot shots, luckily missing him.
Also in Concepcion, on April 23rd, 2010 in Barangay Marugang, Vina's gunmen terrorised most of the barangay, a strong support base for Mayor Pilota. Reading off of a list of addresses they began strafing particular homes. Luckily noone was killed but several children were badly injured in the stampede of frightened residents trying to escape the mayhem.
In this same town, on April 28th, 2010 a Barangay Councilor who supports Mayor Pilota was walking with his wife, heading to their home in the cool of the evening when 2 men riding tandem on a motorcycle rushed by, the man on the rear shooting the Councilor, Dario Elonor to death. Luckily his wife was uninjured.
On May 03, 2010 in this same town, Concepcion, Mayor Benjamin Dequina Pilota Jr., a retired AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Colonel formally requested that COMELEC (Election Authority) place the town under its control so as to avoid predicted violence. Cognisant of the issues involved at Election Time Mayor Pilota specifically requested that any AFP detachments deployed be posted outside of affected barangays so as to avoid a uniformed presence that might intimidate prospective voters. His request also specifically mentioned Vice Mayor and rival for the Mayoralty, Juanidy Vina, and alleges that Vina is in violation of the COMELEC imposed maximum on number of Armed Men in a Security Detail.
His request was denied but the extra attention apparently ended up doing the trick because after the earlier bursts of violence Vina left well enough alone and refrained from acting out again.
Friday, May 7th, 2010 in the municipality of Sincaban, incumbent Mayoral candidate Dello Lood found himself the subject of a PNP SAF (Special Action Force) raid on his compound, supposedly for weapons related to a small paramilitary commanded by Lood.The Warrant, issed by Judge Rio Concepcion Anchas of Ozamis City in that same province was for a single residence, only for firearms but when the Warran was executed it was done so by a single PNP officer, Amazingly, this single officer was a PO1, the lowest rank in the PNP.
The PNP PO1 whose name was never released, as is often the case when such things are swept under the rug didnt pay more than a glance at Lood's own house but instead scoured the home of Lood's aunt who resides next to Lood, within that same compound. As the PNP officer exited the aunt's home Lood, who had been summoned by one of his servants who wasted no time in calling the Mayor, led a boisterous crowd who could fairly be described as a howling mob. They deamnded that the officer drop the bag he was carrying out of the aunt's home. The officer refused, made a dash for his official vehicle and quickly locked himself inside as the crowd nearly over-turned the auto.
The terrified officer summon allied municipal officials who managed to negotiate a deal with the crowd that allowed them to search the bag. Searching the bag they were stunned to find nearly 300,000 Pesos. Lood quickly checked his cash reserves of nearly 1 million Pesos (roughly 20,000 US) and found almost 700,000 missing. At that point the officer knew he'd been had and begged to be allowed to surrender with some semblance of safety. The municipal officials on site negotiated the issue and the officer was escorted to Governor Loreto Leo Ocampos and permitted to surrender to him.
It is worth noting that not only were no firearms found in either of the two homes searched, Lood's and his aunts, the Warrant was not executed properly, nor was it issued properly since the Judge in question, Rio Concepcion Anchas, did not have jurisdiction over Sinabacan. His powers of authority ended in the neighbouring municipality of Jimenez.
That weekend on Camiguin Island, off the coast of Misamis Oriental Province, some journalists ran into a very worrying situation. Long the bastion of the Romulado Clan it is extremely well known as being rife with political corruption though actual violence is rare owing to the vice like grip, almost dictatorial, exerted by that family. The journalists in question are all local stringers who sell footage and/or reports based upon predicted public interest. What better way to make some money then than to take a short ferry ride out to Camiguin?
It began with a mysterious SMS (text) message from Rolando Gono, a news jock on 106.3 FM in Cagayan de Oro City, in Misamis Oriental Province. The SMS, sent to friends and fellow journalists, father and son Herbert Hugo Dumaguing, 43, and Hubert Junior, in which Gono said that he was surrounded by Romulado paramilitary soldiers who were man handling him and he felt imminent danger was at hand. The Dumaguins who freelance video news footage with the father as anchor and Hubert on camera then rushed to their comrade's aid.
A truly news worthy issue in the province was the victory of a member of the famed Jalosjos Clan of Zamboanga del Sur Province who won the Mayoralty of Baliango, in Misamis Occidental Province. The Jalosjos are a political dynasty I had talked about when I did my entry on Zamboanga and its extra-heavy Election Related Violence. The Clan Patriarch Romeo (his actual name) fell from grace when convicted in 1995 of Statutory Rape against a 13 yearold girl. Sentenced to 2 Life Sentences his ally, former-President Gloria M. Arroyo commuted his sentence to Time Served, 13 years, 5 months and 5 days citing his "Good Time Allowance" (Hey! I thought he used THAT allowance in 1995!).
He was released in time to see two sons unseat the Hofer Dynasty, the Clan ruling neighbouring Zamboanga Sibugay Province, an upset most (including myself) did not see coming. More to the point, THIS Jalosjos, daughter Sveltana, caused alot of controversy since according to all but her closest supporters, she has never lived in Misamis Occidental. As expected people filed Grievances with COMELEC on this issue and on July 30th, 2010 COMELEC ruled that indeed she had failed to prove residency and so she has been unseated.
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