Army company head relieved for backing Davao candidate

DAVAO CITY — A company commander of the Army’s 60th Infantry Battalion assigned to the gold-rush town of Monkayo in Com—postela Valley was relieved from his post yesterday due to allegations that he was openly supporting a mayoral candidate.

Col. Felipe Berroya, chief of the Army’s 701st Infantry Brigade, said 1Lt. Jeffrey Villarosa was "ordered back to barracks" for allegedly supporting the mayoral candidacy of Joel Brillantes, president of the JB Management mining firm operating in Monkayo.

The mayoral race in Monkayo has always been hotly contested, the town being a source of gold ore.

Supporters of incumbent Mayor Avelino Cabag of the Reporma party demanded Villarosa’s relief, as well as the pullout of the entire 60th IB from the municipality.

Monkayo residents staged a protest rally past midnight yesterday, a few minutes after the official campaign period ended, to demand Villarosa’s relief.

The townsfolk also urged that ballots from different parts of the town be counted in the town proper.

The tension triggered by the protest was defused only after Cabag and Brillantes, along with Army and provincial police officials, signed an agreement at about midnight Saturday giving in to the demands of the residents.

A composite team of the police and military will take charge of the security functions in the 60th IB’s area of responsibility. — Edith Regalado