TAGBILARAN CITY—A pattern of alleged harassment including the death of a mayor’s bodyguards has sown tension within the opposition in Bohol as the country nears the start of the campaign period for local officials.
“Two of my bodyguards have already been killed,” said Vice Mayor Tomas Gonzaga of the hinterland town of Danao as he confirmed harassments of opposition ward leaders identified with opposition gubernatorial candidate May Lim-Imboy.
Gonzaga, who is the Bohol provincial coordinator of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance and running for mayor unopposed, told The Standard that seven Bohol towns including Danao had already been declared as election watchlist areas or EWA. The other six towns are Buenavista, Clarin, Inabanga, Ubay, Pilar and Cortes.
The situation in the fourth-class municipality of Danao is particularly tense because of the killing of his leaders, added Gonzaga. Danao was also the scene of the assassination of the town’s police chief SPO1 Noel E. Romagos in April 2014.
Days after the start of the campaign period for national candidates last January, gunmen shot to death Jacinto Galvez Jr. near his house in Barangay Magtangtang.
“A bullet already pierced my husband through the heart,” said widow Anna Mitzi Galvez in an interview. “They dragged him inside the house and shot him on the head.”
Magtangtang is the location of Dagohoy’s grave in the mountains. It was Bohol hero Francisco Dagohoy’s hideout during his revolt. Hundreds of Dagohoy’s followers preferred death inside the cave than surrender. Their skeletons remain in the site.
Meanwhile, Imboy, the incumbent mayor of Loay, had no plans at first to run for governor against erstwhile LP Party mate Gov. Edgar Chatto days before the filing of the Certificates of Candidacy last year. Imboy only became the opposition standard-bearer after she failed to get an LP nomination certificate and the PDP-Laban came to the rescue.
With more mayors behind Imboy compared to her gubernatorial bid in 2013 and the issues hounding Gov. Chatto, Carmen Mayor Charito Toribio-delos Reyes said the opposition candidate has a bigger chance of winning now.
The Office of the Ombudsman has pursued a corruption case against Chatto and several others for the sale of the province’s power and water utilities more than a decade ago.
Third district Rep. Erico Aumentado has thrown his support behind Imboy. Most of the hotly-contested towns are located in his district.
Delos Reyes, who is currently running for the second district congressional seat against Rep. Arthur Yap, warned that Imboy should not relax her security. The Carmen mayor recalled an ambush attempt against her during her failed 2013 gubernatorial bid.
A member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Yap is allied with Chatto.
But Bohol provincial police director SSupt. Dennis Agustin, however, described the peace and order situation in Bohol as generally peaceful.
While the police downplayed political undertones in the killings and suggested drug-related angles, Vice Mayor Gonzaga and Rep. Aumentado alleged narco-politics as one reason for the worsening drug problem in the province.
In an interview however, Agustin likewise revealed plans of forging peace covenants among local candidates in the seven hotly-contested areas identified by the Commission Elections (Comelec). He said he will pursue this with the help of some 300 motorcycle riders who support his peace efforts.
Agustin likewise denied allegations of a revamp of police chiefs in towns with mayors identified with the opposition. “The revamp was implemented also in towns with pro-administration mayors,” he pointed out.
Earlier, Agustin revealed the presence of gun-for-hire groups in Bohol responsible for the killings of officials and private citizens in Bohol.