First poll-related violence in 2007: Samar mayor shot dead

TACLOBAN CITY — Five men gunned down a second-term municipal mayor in Samar while he was attending a fiesta dance in an island village before dawn yesterday, in what police consider as the first election-related violent incident this year.

Chief Superintendent Eliseo de la Paz, Eastern Visayas police director, said Mayor Benito Astorga, 47, of Daram town died from five gunshot wounds in the head, chest and other parts of the body.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Calderon ordered a thorough investigation into Astorga’s murder that occurred in the run-up to the May mid-term elections.

Witnesses said Astorga, accompanied by four close-in bodyguards, had just finished dancing the kutasa in Barangay Birawan when his attackers casually approached him and fired.

As the mayor lay bloodied on the pavement, two of the gunmen reportedly approached him again and peppered him with more caliber .45 bullets, apparently to make sure he was killed.

One of Astorga’s police bodyguards, who refused to give his identity, told The STAR that they were at the mayor’s back when they heard a gunshot they thought had come from the center of the benefit dance venue.

He claimed they had a hard time pursuing the mayor’s attackers because the villagers had scampered to different directions.

De la Paz said investigators were exploring all possible motives behind the killing, including politics.

"We cannot say anything at this moment… I’m appealing to witnesses to cooperate in the investigation," said Senior Superintendent Asdali Abah, Samar police director.

Astorga’s doctor-wife Lucia, who once served as Daram mayor for one term, condemned her husband’s killing and urged the authorities to speed up their investigation.

"I don’t know... we were totally surprised and still shocked why my husband was killed... He was a nice person... I hope justice will be served to us... We are very sad," she said.

Daram Vice Mayor Bartolome Figueroa, nephew of Rep. Catalino Figueroa, had openly expressed his desire to run for mayor, according to the Astorga family.

The Commission on Elections and the police earlier declared Samar as an "immediate area of concern" in the May polls, with the towns of Daram, Gandara, San Jorge, Tarangnan and Catbalogan, and Calbayog City as potential hot spots.

Astorga, a civil engineer by profession, once worked at the Department of Public Works and Highways’ provincial office before he entered politics.

He served as Daram mayor for three consecutive terms until 1998, and staged a comeback in the 2001 elections where he won by a landslide.

In the run-up to the 2004 polls, two mayors — Anieto Olaje and Roy Joma-o of Tarangnan and Hindang towns, respectively — were slain. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe and Roberto Dejon