HARASSMENTS MAR PANAON BARANGAY ELECTIONS

                                    By MMM Reportorial Team*

            Massive acts of harassment reigned in the days before and during the barangay elections in the town of Panaon, Misamis Occidental.

            Candidates opposing the anointed ones of incumbent Mayor Francisco Paylaga, Jr. were reportedly asked to withdraw their candidacies otherwise they might get harmed because by running, they were just creating trouble.

            Several candidates for barangay captains who requested anonymity for fear of their lives said that they were stalked by armed strangers.

            A candidate of one of the barangays said that he feared for his life because a barangay captain was killed in their barangay years ago but the case has remained unsolved up to this day though the townsfolk believe that the mastermind is safely in power.

            Two days before Election Day, supporters of candidate Nerolyn Cagaanan Galleros of  barangay Lutao who was running against the wife of the Mayor saw unidentifed motorcyle-riding men passed several times on the road in front of her residence in the evening of October 25 up to the early dawn on of the next day.

            Eyewitnesses said that those men had short firearms bulging on their sides under their shirts.

            They said that at about 5:15 o’clock early in the morning of October 26, the white Fortuner known to be owned and believed to be personally driven by Mayor Paylaga stopped on the road in front of the Galleros residence.

            The occupant of the said vehicle reportedly observed the house for about 5 minutes through a slightly opened window.

            At about past 3 o’clock in the afternoon of October 26, the vehicle of Board Member Jim delos Santos who just visited candidate Galleros to check reports of the unusual incidents observed earlier was almost blocked by a convoy of vans and motorcyles  led by the FORTUNER of the Mayor.

            Newsmen standing in the vicinity were alerted by a commotion near the junction of the National Highway and the municipal road passing the house of candidate Galleros as the said FORTUNER was honking right behind the vehicle of delos Santos and motorcycles were crowding by the sides of the former’s vehicle. 

            Delos Santos told Media later that a back-rider of one of the motorycles had a long firearm.

            When finally Delos Santos’ vehicle cleared the junction and drove on the highway toward the adjoining town of Jimenez the convoy made chase and attempted several times to overtake obviously to block his path but was foiled by vehicles coming from the opposite direction, he said.

            Four hundred meters inside the jurisdiction of Jimenez, the convoy gave up the chase and returned to Panaon, delos Santos narrated.

            Later, delos Santos had the incident recorded in the Police Blotter of Jimenez.

            He told Media that he is going to file charges against Mayor Paylaga and that he will deliver a privilege speech in one of the coming sessions of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

            In the morning of October 27 a young teary-eyed housewife from Lutao told Media that she was forcibly brought by henchmen of the Mayor to the latter’s house and forced to accept two P500  bills so that that she will vote for Miriam the Mayor’s wife who was running for barangay Captain. 

            She said that she was very afraid that she might be killed if she will not vote for the Mayor’s wife because the Mayor’s daughter, Vice Mayor Paylaga who gave her the money motioned with a finger that her neck would be cut if she will not vote for the latter’s mother.

            Even the Parish Priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independente (IFI) was not spared from harassment, it was learned

Father Rolly G. Decena told newsmen that on Election Day he was roaming around to observe the election amidst reports of harassment of candidates and voters when at the front of the Lutao Polling Place, he was met by Mayor Paylaga and her Vice Mayor Daughter who defamed him in the presence of several people.

In a statement recorded on video by a TV crew in front of Decena and in the presence of people, Vice Mayor Paylaga said that they would petition against Decena for using the Church to receive P7 thousand from a provincial politician.

That accusation was denied by Decena who said that he was just performing a shepherd’s job to see his flock when accosted by the Paylagas.

It was learned that the Paylagas do not belong to the IFI as they are members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Decena said that he was consulting with his fellow priests of the IFI and maybe their lawyer to initiate appropriate charges against the Paylagas. 

The younger Paylaga told the TV crew that they (Paylagas) felt harassed by the presence of a TV camera in the vicinity.

Sources revealed that the Paylagas are doing everything possible to hold power in Panaon so that alleged mismanagement of the municipality including misuse of public funds cannot be divulged.

It was said that public funds are used in private projects including a family resort.

Efforts of the team to get the side of the Paylagas failed because even the PNP Station Commander when requested said that he was not allowed to give them the cell phone number of the Mayor.

Nonetheless the reportorial team would greatly appreciate if Mayor Francisco Paylaga, Jr. or anyone from his clan will give their side of the story.

It can be recalled that in the eve of the 2010 Elections an MMM Reportorial Team was also dispatched to Panaon due to allegations of then candidate for Vice Governor Francisco Paylaga, Jr. that his leaders were harassed by goons of his opponent then candidate Herminia Ramiro, now incumbent provincial governor.

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*Manggagawang Media Ng Mindanao

Team Leader: Frank E. Dosdos, Jr., Vice President for Internal Affairs

Members: Mariz Revales, Police Files, Manila

                 Ric Clet, DWIG, Metro Manila

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