No one was hurt during the strafing and attempted bombing of a vice mayoral candidate’s vehicle in Dumanjug town last Thursday, but the timing and the venue are bound to draw both curiosity and suspicion regardless of one’s political affinity or interest in the parties involved.
The black Mitsubishi Pajero owned by Rainero Asentista was riddled with bullets and a grenade was thrown at it which fortunately didn’t blow up. If, God forbid, Asentista was inside the vehicle and someone was nearby when the incident occurred, lives would have been lost and blood spilled, justifying the declaration of Dumanjug town as an election hotspot.
That was the target of Asentista’s running mate, Vice Mayor Efren Gica all along, so claimed Dumanjug town Mayor Nelson Garcia who added that the strafing was a staged drama meant to place Dumanjug under the control of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
If it was, it’s not run-of-the-mill drama. One of the suspects was a former policeman named Nilo Quirante, whom Garcia admitted to having included in his council slate before but failed to win.
That the Dumanjug police acknowledged Quirante as being in their watch list of drug lords casts both an interesting and appalling light into how tense the political situation in that southwestern Cebu town is.
Dumanjug is one of the political bailiwicks of the Garcias and, as such, is expected to deliver the votes for One Cebu standard-bearer Winston Garcia in next year’s elections.
While one cannot discount the obvious angle of politics as motive behind the attack, even the mayor cannot risk using violence to rid himself of opposition to his reelection bid.
The strafing itself appeared intended not to kill or maim but to intimidate—not just perhaps Asentista but the residents likewise—into clamoring for additional police or military personnel to be assigned in the town.
Speculations will remain rampant even with the arrest of three of the suspects until the police gets answers from Quirante and establishes evidence that would identify the mastermind behind this ugly show of violence.
Aside from Dumanjug town, there are other towns and cities in Cebu province where partisan politics can rear its ugly head and turn violent without so much as a warning.
Based on Mayor Garcia’s initial statement, it appears that he isn’t opposed to placing Dumanjug town under Comelec control, so long as the town remains peaceful and there is no manipulation of votes.
If such were the case, then the suspects may have done a good service to Dumanjug residents but unnecessarily burdened the Cebu police whose resources and personnel will be stretched thin by this incident.
Whatever the outcome, we hope Cebu’s police and other law enforcement agencies as well as the Comelec will be on top of this situation.
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