Zambo town mayor links killings to politics

ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 27, 2010) – A southern Philippine town mayor on Wednesday said assassins are targeting his relatives and political supporters after gunmen killed three cousins in separate attacks in Zamboanga del Sur province.

Labangan town mayor Abubakar Afdal said the killings were purely political aimed at weakening his hold in the province. “The killings are an act perpetrated by evil persons,” he told the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

Gunmen had killed the mayor’s cousins Rascal Afdal, Hanira Agcong and Steve Tapodoc, who was running foe a seat in the town’s council. They were all gunned town by motorcycle gunmen in separate attacks this month.

Afdal believed the killing of his supporters is being perpetrated to end his clout in Labangan, one of the vote-rich municipalities in Zamboanga del Sur.

Police said family feud could be the motive behind the killings, but the mayor disputed this and said the murders were political. “I believed these killings are connected to politics and not family feud,” Afdal said. (Becky de Asis)

Two Die In Karaoke Bar Shooting In South RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / September 21, 2008) – Two men were shot dead inside a karaoke bar in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Sur, police said Saturday.

Police said Roger Meynard, 34, and his companion Arnel Carpio, 32, were killed late Friday by one of two men who posed as customers in the bar in Labangan town.

The two victims were shot in the head and the assailants escaped after the shooting.

Police said it is still investigating the motive of the killings. It said crime scene investigators recovered empty shells of .45-calober pistol inside the bar. (Erico Rosco)

5 Killed Near Police Checkpoint In South RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 23, 2008) – Five security escorts of a southern Philippine town deputy mayor were killed after policemen manning a checkpoint opened fire on their convoy, reports said Saturday.

The shooting occurred Friday near a village called Santo Nino in Turukan town in Zamboanga del Sur province. The deputy mayor of Labangan Wilson Nadang who was in the convoy was unhurt in the shooting.

Nadang said his group was ambushed, but a police report claimed the politician’s convoy did not stop at the checkpoint prompting the security forces to open fire on the unidentified vehicles.

“One army soldier, from the First Infantry Division, who was escorting the politician, was among those killed. There is an ongoing investigation into the incident,” Maj. Eugene Batara, a regional army spokesman, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Aside from the slain soldier, policemen were also escorting the politician, but it was not immediately known if any of them were killed or injured in the shooting.

Lt. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the First Infantry Division, and his deputy Brig. Jovencio Magalso, did not give any statement about the incident and had ignored repeated telephone calls from journalists. (Mindanao Examiner)