Ex-mayor, 3 others killed in Negros shooting spree

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — A former town mayor, a city councilor and a barangay chairman were among four persons killed in another wave of shootings in Negros Oriental yesterday.

The incidents raise the death toll in gun attacks in the province since last week to 21.

Police said Edsel Enardecido, 60, former mayor of Ayungon town, and his cousin  Leonardo, 45, were shot by unidentified men who stormed their houses in Barangay Tampocon 1 at about 2:30 a.m.

At past midnight, Canlaon City Councilor Ramon Jalandoni and Ernesto Posadas, 71, chairman of Barangay Panubigan, were also shot by unidentified men who entered their houses.

The assailants left mesages on the walls of the houses of Posadas and Jalandoni that read Mabuhay ang NPA (New People’s Army) and Traidor sa NPA.

 Col. Romeo Baleros, Negros Occidental police director, deployed his men at the boundary of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental to prevent a spillover of the killings.

Brig. Gen. Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police director, ordered the implementation of heightened security measures in coordination with the military.

Frightening proportions

The diocese of Dumaguete expressed alarm over the killings, which it said “reached a crescendo,  frightening proportions.”

Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of the San Carlos diocese, which covers Guihulngan City, called for the ringing of church bells every 8 p.m. starting today until the killings stop.

“Let the tolling of bells remind us that the senseless killings are inhuman. Let the tolling of the church bells call us to a collective prayer, for us to beg God to touch the hearts of the perpetrators as we call on responsible government agencies to effectively address the series of deaths,” Alminaza said in his pastoral letter.

He described the killing of seven persons in Guihulngan in one day as “barbaric deaths.”

Alminaza challenged concerned local government officials to speak up and join the public clamor to end senseless killings.

“Let not your silence add to the growing number of killings… Let not your silence embolden... the criminals,” he said.

CHR condemns killings        

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) expressed alarm over the killings, saying the people of Negros Oriental do not deserve to live in ”fear of rampant violence and brutality just outside their doorstep.”

Four police officers were allegedly tortured before they were executed by NPA rebels in Ayungon on July 18.

Lawyer Anthony Trinidad was killed while his wife was wounded in an ambush in Guihulngan on July 23.

On Thursday, school principal Arthur Bayawa; his sister Ardale, curriculum implementation chief at the schools division office, and a barangay chairman were among those shot dead by unidentified men.

CHR chairperson Jacqueline de Guia urged the government to ”properly investigate,” take active measures to end the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice.

 De Guia said the CHR office in Negros Oriental is conducting a parallel probe into the killings.

”We will coordinate with local authorities as best as we can to help the government bring justice to the victims,” she said.

Senate probe

Meanwhile, Sen. Leila de Lima called for a Senate investigation into what she described as a ”systematic attacks and continued assault” against lawyers in the country.

De Lima also pressed for the approval of Senate Bill 179 or the human rights defenders protection bill, which she filed.

“It seems that this administration’s idea of a better life for Filipinos is one without its critics, where peace comes from the barrel of a gun,” De Lima said.

She cited the murder of Trinidad, a lawyer for political prisoners in Negros.

De Lima also pushed for an unhampered probe by the United Nations Human Rights Council into the human rights situation in the country. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Janvic Mateo