CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/13 May) – A mayoralty candidate was wounded while one of his supporters was killed in an alleged encounter with Army soldiers in Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur on the eve of Monday’s midterm elections.
Zamboanga del Sur police director Col. Redentor Retusto said Domingo Mirrar, candidate for Lakewood mayor under Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino, survived an encounter with Army soldiers in Barangay Tubod Sunday night.
But one of Mirrar’s supporters was killed, Retusto said.
“We are still investigating the incident,” he told MindaNews.
Mirrar, in a talk with Mindanews, offered a different version, saying it was the soldiers who fired at him and his supporters.
He said he on board a jeep and 15 supporters riding motorcycles passed by a checkpoint manned by Army soldiers when soldiers on a military truck chased them and opened fire, hitting him in the thigh.
“I told my driver to slow down when I sensed the soldiers were chasing us. They were about to overtake us when they fired,” he narrated.
Mirrar said the hail of bullets forced his vehicle to smash an electric pole.
Frightened, Mirrar said he hid in a ravine and only came out three hours later when he saw that a police car and reporters had arrived at the scene.
Meanwhile, in Northern Mindanao, policemen seized over P1 million believed to be intended to buy votes in three provinces and Iligan City Sunday night.
Philippine National Police Region 10 spokesperson Col. Surki Sereñas said the money was confiscated from 16 suspects who were arrested in a midnight drive to stop vote-buying in the provinces of Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental and Iligan City. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)