‘Declare Nueva Ecija poll hotspot’

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) should declare Nueva Ecija an election hotspot amid escalating cases of political violence in the province, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Nueva Ecija Fourth District Rep. Rodolfo Antonino said 14 persons were killed and seven others were wounded in recent ambushes in the province.

“Eleven of the incidents occurred this year, including six last September,” Antonino said at a media forum here.

He said among the victims were city and town councilors and barangay officials, including former Association of Barangay Captains president Rick Ramos of Talavera, chairman Cesar Baltazar of Barangay Luna, lay minister Nicanor Toledo, former Quezon town councilor Daniel Lonzanida and barangay chairman Gariel Roxas of Cuyapa in Gabaldon.

On Monday night, motorcycle-riding gunmen shot dead a former town councilor of Quezon town.

Daniel Lonzanida of Barangay Bertese, 46, was walking along the provincial road in Purok Bertese around 6:30 p.m. when two men on a motorcycle pulled over to chat with him, Police Officer 2 Rodelio Rivera, quoting witnesses, said.

Rivera said two men on another motorcycle arrived and one of the riders shot Lonzanida at close range. – Ding Cervantes, Manny Galvez