Isabela vice mayor bet’s house strafed

SANTIAGO CITY — The residence of a vice mayoral candidate here was strafed past midnight yesterday in what could be the fourth poll-related violence in Isabela.

Police said three motorcycle-riding men fired at least four times at the house of Armando Tan, a three-term councilor who is running for vice mayor under the Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats) party.

Tan was meeting with three of his political leaders inside his residence during the attack which left bullet holes in the steel gate, police said.

Police found four caliber .45 shells at the scene. A witness said the attackers left on board a Yamaha motorcycle.

Tan, a businessman, said the attack could be the handiwork of his political enemies.

Police are eyeing politics, too, but are not discounting a business-related motive.

Last month, Mariano Lim, a former provincial board member, was gunned down in Barangay Calamagui I in Ilagan, the capital town.

Lim, who belonged to the Nationalist People’s Coalition, was an active supporter of a local congressional candidate.

Late last year, Romy Blancaflor, a political leader of fourth district congressional aspirant Anthony Miranda, was shot dead while he was attending a caucus in Jones town.

Blancaflor’s killing came a few weeks after Jess Soriano, a local leader of the party-list group Bayan Muna, was gunned down inside his residence in Jones town.