4 Tiñga supporters attacked

MANILA, Philippines - Four supporters of Taguig mayoral candidate Rebecca Tiñga were attacked by unidentified men as they were setting up a voters’ assistance desk near the gate of a public school in Barangay Maharlika yesterday morning.

Fatima Limpasan, 20, and her friends Adzzman Harun, Yadhi Harun and Lino Madjani were setting up the information desk in front of the Maharlika Elementary School to help voters find their precinct numbers and were handing out flyers when the men arrived.

“They tried to snatch the laptop of my daughter. They did not want my daughter’s group to set up an information desk. In the scuffle, my daughter got hurt and they tore her blouse. When her two friends tried to help her, they were beaten,” said Barangay Maharlika kagawad Udang Limpasan in a report.

Tiñga’s camp said though the attackers wore scarves or bonnets, they were reportedly recognized as employees of the city government’s public order and safety office. POSO personnel figured in a confrontation with Tiñga supporters at the city hall in Barangay Tuktukan days before the elections.

Tiñga called on the camp of re-electionist Mayor Lani Cayetano to stop the violence reportedly perpetrated by her supporters.

City police chief Senior Superintendent Arthur Asis, on the other hand, said there is no indication that the attack was election-related and that it was done by POSO members.

Lyle Pasco, Nacionalista Party-Taguig’s legal counsel, said their ground reports “indicate that the two groups clashed (over) the distribution of sample ballots.”

Pasco also called on media to be objective in its coverage of the Taguig elections.

“We should not always conclude that every report of violence in Taguig involves the Cayetano-Tiñga rivalry,” he said.