Castillano assures peaceful election despite ambush of Daanbantayan mayor

Cebu Provincial Elections Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano assured voters in Daanbantayan town, northern Cebu that the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on Monday (May 14) will be secured.

This, after the convoy of Provincial Board Member Sun Shimura with his stepfather Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot, was ambushed by at least five gunmen at the Maya Port in Daanbantayan, early morning on Sunday.

”Although it is not included in one of our hotspots, we have augmented many police in the area. The action taken was we dispatched the regional police from the Philippine Army from Medellin to Daanbantayan and I asked the Provincial director that the district supervisor of the PNP that they also dispatched personnel there,” Castillano said in a radio interview with dyAB.

The Provincial Director already directed to conduct checkpoints in the north, he said.

Castillano urged voters in Daanbantayan not to be scared to go out in their houses as they cast their votes for the elections tomorrow.

Furthermore, Castillano clarified that there are no barangays in Daanbantayan included in the Election Watchlist Areas (EWAs) of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

He said it is too late for Daanbantayan to be included for the EWAs as it did not pass the justification provided for by the Comelec.

In previous reports, the Comelec has approved at least six barangays in the whole province of Cebu under EWAs; Barangay Carmelo, Barangay Mag-atubang, Barangay Gaang, Barangay Montealegre, Barangay Sumon and Barangay Putat.

All of which are from Tuburan town, northern Cebu.