Malou Guanzon-Apalisok
As expected, controversy riddled yesterday’s election for top positions of the Cebu City Association of Barangay Councils but nobody expected that the camp of Mabolo barangay captain Prisca Nina Mabatid will sit out the ABC polling on the basis of what they claimed as intimidation of her supporters by the Bando Osmena Pundok Kauswagan.
Mabatid’s allies described the ABC elections a farce and there are plans to question the validity of the polling at the proper time.
Mabatid’s camp which is identified with Barug Team Rama and PDP-Laban is fuming because they really worked hard to gain the upper hand but I’m not sure if there’s firm ground to question the results unless some barangay captains will come forward to testify they were intimidated to accept a bribe.
That’s a pretty awkward scenario.
Even Mabatid declined to name her supposed allies who had earlier committed to support her but voted for Ong in the end.
Yesterday’s noise created by the ABC polling was quickly doused by news of an attempted assassination of former Tejero barangay captain Jessielou Cadungog.
Even as the details of the incident were still being pieced together, my friend and media colleague Jhunnex Napallacan expressed his disgust at how the police was trying to distort what was to the ordinary layman, an attempted hit by police elements on the life of Mr. Cadungog.
Because the style of the ambush by two motorcycle men riding in tandem was similar to the previous murders committed against barangay councilors in the cities of Cebu and Talisay, Jhunnex’s belief is not totally far-fetched: that these murders are being perpetrated by certain elements of the police.
Luckily for Councilor Cadungog, he was not on board the vehicle when the hit took place.
The alleged assailant, a policeman connected with the anti-drugs section of the Parian police station was killed by Cadungog’s driver bodyguard as an act of self-defense according to his statement.
By the middle of the day, PNP Regional Director Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas faced the media to explain that the fallen policeman was in fact doing surveillance around barangay Tejero when the incident happened.
I was monitoring the presscon through Facebook live and Chief Superintendent Sinas’ explanation that the policeman was a victim and not the assailant was roundly criticized by netizens who believed the PNP official was trying to cover up for what happened.
He even had the nerve to criticize and threaten Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak for allegedly interfering in a police matter.
The question is, what could be the motive for the attempt on the life of Jessielou Cadungog?
I don’t recall his name being mentioned in the anti-drugs campaign. Cadungog is a director of the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corporation OPASCOR, a company providing arrastre and stevedoring services in the Cebu International Port.
This is a multi-billion peso enterprise owned by workers affiliated with the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines ALU TUCP.
Cebu has been gripped by several killings of people allegedly linked to illegal drugs.
The pattern that has emerged is two men riding motorcycles in tandem tailing their targets and killing them outside their houses. Most often they wore ski masks to hide their identities.
Not one suspect has been arrested and prosecuted even if the killings occur almost every day.
Monday’s attempt on the life of Jessielou Cadungog might just provide some chilling answers as to who are behind the wave of murders.