Tuburan Vice Mayor Danilo Diamante claimed a group of about 20 armed men staged the ambush that killed one of their supporters, Rene Cangmaong. (CDN PHOTO/TONE DESPOJO)
A group of political supporters of Tuburan Mayor Democrito Diamante was ambushed by a group of armed men in a hinterland village of the northwestern Cebu town at noon yesterday, killing one and wounding another, the police said.
While Diamante, who heads the province’s municipal mayors’ league and is seeking reelection under Liberal Party, immediately labeled the incident as politically motivated and allegedly the handiwork of his opponent, Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Senior Supt. Clifford Gairanod cautioned the public against making hasty conclusion that it was an election-related killing.
He said the police could not as yet determine if those responsible for the ambush were politicians’ goons since the incident was still being investigated. But if the incident was connected to the upcoming election, this could be the first election-related violence in the province, he added.
The ambush happened on the same day, or just hours after the police sent two teams of elite policemen to the town as augmentation force that would ensure a peaceful conduct of the elections on May 9 since Tuburan is one of the eight local government units in Cebu that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has declared as election watchlist areas (Ewas) or hotspots.
Police authorities identified the fatality as Rene Cangmaong, 48, a former member of the New People’s Army (NPA) rebel who worked as a market guard under the employ of the municipal government; and the wounded as Vicente Labrador, 45.
Cangmaong, who also was a former bodyguard of the mayor, was with five other Diamante supporters when they were waylaid at around 12:30 p.m. in Sitio Sambag, Barangay Mag-antoy, located about 25 kilometers from the town proper of Tuburan, 96.7 km northwest of Cebu City.
SPO1 John Philip Acaso, investigator of Tuburan Police, told Cebu Daily News that Cangmaong was with five men on board three motorcycles that were negotiating an uphill road when waylaid by at least three unidentified armed men positioned at the top of the hill.
He said Cangmaong was hit several times and was left slumped on the ground. His companion, Labrador, was hit on his left leg but was also able to scamper to safety along with the others survivors, identified as Jovelito Baguio, 27; Alexander Lato, 42; and two others only known as “Boboy” and “Pepe.”
Acaso said the survivors told the police that they came from Diamante’s house in Barangay Cogon and were en route to the hinterland village of Kabangkalan to attend a fiesta celebration when they were ambushed.
Acaso, however, said that while the survivors claimed that Labrador was wounded and left with the certain Pepe to seek medication, he could not be located by the police.
“We checked on our district hospital but they were not there; we are still looking for them,” said Acaso in Cebuano.
Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) arrived at the ambush site at around 9 p.m. to check the area for empty shells and retrieve the body of the victim.
Marites, the wife of the victim, is comforted by their relatives. (CDN PHOTO/APPLE TA-AS)
Alona Comilang, 20, a niece of the slain market guard, said their family was still in shock over the killing of her uncle.
Comilang claimed her uncle was a good man who served as the mayor’s bodyguard from 2010 up to sometime in 2013 and was respected by most of the residents of their village.
“Bodyguard man na siya sa mayor sa una pero nihunong naman na siya kay gipahunong sa iyang asawa kay lage risgo. Pero wa man siya nihunong nga mo-support sa mga Diamante,” said Comilang.
(He was a former bodyguard of the mayor but he stopped after his wife asked him to do so because it was too risky. But he never stopped supporting the Diamantes.)
Diamante claimed the killing was handiwork of former rebels who allegedly acted as “goons” of his rival, One Cebu mayoral candidate Daphne Lagon.
Comilang also claimed that a group of supporters of Lagon allegedly went to Cangmaong’s house in Barangay Mag-atubang and allegedly offered him P30,000 for his “service” but he refused because he owed a huge debt of gratitude to Diamante.
Lagon, who also squared off but lost to another member of the Diamante family for the town’s vice mayoralty race in the 2013 elections, immediately belied Diamante’s claim.
“I don’t have goons. Between me and him (Diamante), it would be more possible that he has the goons,” she told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview yesterday.
Lagon said she was in Bogo City to meet with local Iglesia ni Cristo officials yesterday before she returned to Tuburan and found out about the incident in the afternoon.
Lagon said she asked her leaders at once to verify these reports, but nobody would dare as they feared that they would figure in an encounter as well.
Lagon believed her opponent might have orchestrated the “ambush” to make her look bad in the eyes of voters, especially because “they are now inclined to vote for (her).”
“Right now, I am the one being blamed for this. We’re not that kind of people,” she said.
Out of fear, Lagon said she will ask the CPPO to deploy additional personnel to the town to secure the residents.
She said she has seen at least 20 CPPO personnel and two Philippine Army battalions arrive in the town two days ago, but it would be better if there were more.
“It would be best if there were those who can control these situations because at the end of the day, I will always be the one who will be blamed,” said Lagon.
Some of the seven young children of ambushed victim Rene Cangmaong brought to safety to the town hall. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
Gairanod said it was only yesterday morning when two teams from the Provincial Public Safety Company based in Asturias were sent to Tuburan. The deployment was part of the security measures in areas under Ewas as the election is approaching. He refused to say how many policemen comprised the two teams.
One Cebu chairman and gubernatorial bet Winston Garcia, on the other hand, called the accusation against Lagon as “malicious and a complete lie.”
“Daphne Lagon is a peace-loving and gentle lady,” he said in a text message to CDN.
Garcia added that Lagon is not an administration candidate and could not “just throw her weight around with impunity.”
Garcia said Lagon now feared for her safety and he had advised her to just hide for the moment and away from persons who might be out to harm her.
Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, deputy regional director for operations of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7), said Tuburan was placed under Ewas due to intense political rivalry in 2013 between Diamante and his challenger, Rose Suezo, also a former mayor of the town. Suezo’s vice mayoral running mate, Lagon, ran against Diamante’s brother, Danilo.
Suezo and Diamante accused against each other of maintaining armed goons, with Suezo lodging a complaint before the Comelec claiming that Diamante harassed her supporters.
The Suezo-Lagon team lost to the Diamante brothers.