LP mayoralty bet nabbed for guns, Tension grips Bohol towns: 4 dead in 7 shooting incidents

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — Following the arrest of a mayoralty bet in Buenavista town for a cache of firearms found and seized allegedly from his compound, and the spate of election-related violent incidents in various towns had raised the tension gripping Bohol province so far.

Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) director Sr. Supt. Constantino Barot Jr., met with the local media on Tuesday (May 7) at Camp Dagohoy, together with Provincial Public Safety Company head, Supt. Gil del Prado and BPPO legal officer, Sr. Insp. Fidel Tutor, to issue a statement regarding the mounting tension in Buenavista, especially the recent killing of a CAFGU member there.

Barot explained that the incidents in Buenavista were a series of retaliations between the camps of Liberal Party mayoralty bet, former mayor Alfonso del Rosario, and reelectionist Mayor Ronald Lowell Tirol of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

The latest incident that shocked the town was the Saturday ambush of CAFGU member Ruel Torregosa near the compound of Del Rosario’s farm in Barangay Upper Cangawa. The victim was the son of Barangay Chairman Berto Torregosa of Overland of this town, who was a supporter of Mayor Tirol.

On May 3, a day before Torregosa’s killing, former police officer Gregorio Jumao-as, also a “runner” of Tirol, was shot dead on the spot by three unidentified gunmen in Barangay Hinabonan of this town, police report said.

These incidents, plus some allegations that Del Rosario has been keeping goons in his farm house, prompted the police to apply for a search warrant, which was subsequently issued by Executive Judge Suzeso Arcamo of Regional Trial Court-branch 47 in Tagbilaran City.

The 10-man raiding team from the Buenavista Police, headed by Insp. Ricardo Tiro, SPO1 Francisco Inot and PO3 Nelson Bajao, arrived at Del Rosario’s house Monday morning, but the search was only done later from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. due to the late issuance of the warrant.

Members of the 4th company of the Special Forces Battalion, led by Capt. Alan Vildosola, from Bilar town detachment observed the raid, which was also witnessed by Upper Cangawa Barangay Chairman Pedro Celocia and Councilman Ramilito Ramirez.

The raid yielded a cache of high-powered ammunitions, including 40 pieces of .30-caliber carbine ammos , 159 pcs. for .60-caliber, 22 pcs. for .30-caliber, 181 pcs. for 5.56-caliber, a flash suppressor, a long magazine of KG-9, a silencer for .45-caliber pistol and a .9mm bullet. Earlier allegations that there were five bodies hidden in the compound turned out to be wrong however.

Prior to the search, Pedring Santillas—a candidate for councilor in Buenavista—turned over a .45-caliber pistol and an AK-47 rifle, which he said he found from the crime scene. Tutor said the PNP Crime Lab was still probing if these match the type of firearm used in killing Torregosa.

The raiding team then arrested del Rosario for a charge of illegal possession of high-powered ammunitions filed against him at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, Tutor said. Del Rosario is now in police custody in his house, but Barot admitted the police team would be forced to leave his property once the accused posts bail.

Political observers said that it seemed the Comelec gun ban was not working, particularly in the 2nd district of Bohol, as at least four men (including Torregosa and Jumao-as) died in about seven violent incidents.

In the neighboring town of Getafe, two men from Talibon town were shot and injured during a barrio fiesta celebration last Friday afternoon. Then in Clarin town, a 19-year-old man was shot and wounded while walking home with his relatives and companions after watching a basketball game, a police report said.

In Cortes town, police said a man, playing with chess with a security guard of the NPC power barge, moored near Abatan river, was shot dead by two motorcycle-riding assailants. Minutes before that, the Alterra car of Mayor Apolinaria Balistoy was fired upon by unidentified men while parked near her house.

In Talibon town, motor-riding men shot dead incumbent Councilor Gershon Dulang at his gasoline station last March 23. He did not make it to the hospital alive due to numerous gunshot wounds on his body, according to Mayor Restituto Auxtero.

Barot told the local media that election-related concerns have been concentrated in six towns, which should be the only election watchlist areas (EWAs) in Bohol instead of scattering the heightened attention to all the 48 towns in the province.

Of these six EWAs, only Candijay town can be categorized as medium-risk, while the high-risk areas were Tagbilaran City and the towns of Danao, Trinidad, Carmen and Buenavista, which the PNP Central Command has classified as an area of grave concern. (FREEMAN)