MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 11, 2007) – A Philippine senator on Sunday called for a though investigation into the recent killings of two elections officials.
Alioden Dalaig, the chief of the Commission on Elections’ Legal Department, was shot late Saturday by a lone gunman near his office in downtown Manila, and Joseph del Rosario, also a COMELEC officer in Cavite province, had also been murdered.
Police said the killings were unrelated.
“Though these two incidents may be unrelated to each other and to the victims’ line of work, it still calls for a thorough investigation and for the killers to be identified and locked up behind bars,” Senator Mar Roxas said in a statement sent Sunday to the Mindanao Examiner.
“I feel very sad for them and their families that their lives had to end this way,” he said.
Dalaig, who had been serving for thirty years and was about to retire, handled all legal cases in the COMELEC, including those concerning electoral protests. Dalaig also signed the arrest order against a former COMELEC officer Lintang Bedol, who was linked to alleged poll cheating in May that favored President Gloria Arroyo.
Bedol, who is now in hiding, is facing contempt charges after he failed several times to attend a COMELEC hearing.
The motives in the two killings were unknown, but police said it recovered P300,000 from Dalaig’s pocket. (Mindanao Examiner)
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