Slay attempt on councilor investigated

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — The attempt to kill Hindang (Leyte) town Councilor Soriano Dilalamon, during an ambush on Monday, is now being investigated, upon orders of Senior Superintendent Franco Simborio, director of the Leyte Police Provincial Office.

Dilalamon told The FREEMAN, in an exclusive interview, he was driving his owner-type jeep on his way home after the regular session at the Municipal Hall, when he heard bursts of gunfire. He did not notice his right hand was hit and was already bleeding.

The councilor said he saw two unidentified men, standing beside their motorcycle along the highway, who after the gunfire, immediately fled the scene.

"The way I analyze it, the suspects were hired killers, considering they were not from Hindang. I don’t have enemies, but this time I cannot just set aside politics as one the possible motives of the ambush," Dilalamon said.

Along with five other councilors, Dilalamon came to Tacloban to ask for police assistance from Simborio and to send additional men to augment the present police force in Hindang that would secure the entire town considering that the election fever is now being felt in the area.

Simborio in turn promised to take action and even ordered a thorough investigation into the attempt to kill the councilor and then to identify the perpetrators.

Dilalamon, a first-term and number one councilor, confirmed to The FREEMAN he is running for vice mayor against incumbent Mayor Jun Cabal, who is now on his last term. Cabal’s wife will be seeking the mayoralty post in the May 2016 elections.

Simborio, however refused to comment if the ambush on Dilalamon had something to do on the councilor’s political plans against Mayor Cabal.

Cabal, for his part, said he had asked for the intervention of the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the incident so that he could bring this up before the rule of law.

Earlier, Police Regional Office-6 Director, Chief Superintendent Asher Dolina said his command, in preparations for the coming elections, has been closely coordinating with different local government units in Eastern Visayas in identifying areas with intense political rivalry.

More than 300 barangays were earlier identified as possible election hotspots, but police authorities are now still validating other possible immediate areas of concern. In the past elections, Hindang was not one of those identified election hot spots in the region. — Miriam Garcia Desacada (FREEMAN)