Kalinga poll bet gunned down

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet — A candidate for barangay chairman in the Kalinga town of Pinukpuk was killed in an ambush at past midnight Saturday, the second poll-related violent incident in the Cordilleras.

Police said Calixto Libnao, of Barangay Amacian, was with his wife Sylvia and five other companions when he was gunned down.

Libnao’s group had just come from campaigning at the house of Rajie Salocon, a candidate for Sangguniang Kabataan.

Last July 5, the house of kagawad Marino Blanco in Peñarrubia, Abra was strafed.

Blanco, who is running for chairman of Barangay Namarabar, was unharmed. Police arrested two suspects, one of them Jessie Bagay, Blanco’s rival for the top barangay post. — Artemio Dumlao