NP bet dies after attack

MANILA, Philippines - The Nacionalista Party (NP) candidate for vice mayor of Tagana-an town in Surigao del Norte died Thursday, two days after he was shot in his home, party officials said yesterday.

The victim, barangay chairman Wilbert “Dodong” Origenes, president of Tagana-an’s Association of Barangay Captains, died at the intensive care unit of the Surigao Medical Center in Surigao City from complications from three gunshot wounds.

The NP, through its spokesman and senatorial candidate Gilbert Remulla, expressed sadness over the death of Origenes, the second NP candidate who fell victim to what is believed to be election-related violence.

Last Dec. 28, barangay chairwoman Jo-en Caniete Diego, an NP candidate for councilor in Dingras, Ilocos Norte, was killed in an ambush that also left eight others, including an NP mayoral bet, wounded.

“In this season of hope and coupled with the clamor for change in 2010, it is regrettable that these senseless acts of violence and impunity are setting the tone of the elections to come,” Remulla said in a statement.

“We pray that all candidates and political powers-that-be realize that violence will not solve anything and will only send the country further away from the peace and prosperity we need,” he added.

The NP, led by its standard-bearer Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., reiterated its challenge to other political parties to renounce violence and commit themselves to honest and peaceful elections.

For his part, Surigao City Mayor Alfonso Casurra, NP district chairman, said, “We hope that justice be served not only to the killing of Origenes, but also to another fallen NP colleague.”

Casurra was referring to Vice Mayor Nasario Gastardo of San Francisco, Surigao del Norte, who was planning to run for mayor, who was shot dead in his home last Oct. 9.