Commission on Elections-Central Visayas Regional Director Lionel Marco Castillano. (PNA file photo)
CEBU CITY – The Commission on Election (Comelec) in Central Visayas said Friday it is still early to conclude that the shooting dead of a candidate for barangay captain in the hinterland village of Cansomoroy in the western town of Balamban was election-related.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec-7 regional director, said Balamban police are still investigating the case.
“Too early to tell if it’s election-related. He is a last term councilor who ran as barangay captain in a three-corner fight. It’s a mountain barangay that has no history of election-related violence,” Castillano told the Philippine News Agency.
But the police are not discounting the possibility that the killing of 60-year-old Anastacio Pacquiao was politically motivated, he said.
Balamban police chief Lt. Glenn Hife said Pacquiao was shot dead by suspects riding in tandem Thursday in Barangay Prenza.
Pacquiao was in his last term as barangay councilman of Cansomoroy, and was running for chairman in the same village.
Hife said the victim was riding his motorcycle and was on his way to Poblacion when he was attacked.
“We have identified the suspects and the police are now conducting a man-hunt operation. Investigators retrieve CCTV footage in the area plus the eyewitnesses who can positively identify the gunman and the driver of the motorcycle,” he told reporters.
He said CCTV showed that the gunman was not wearing a helmet when he shot Pacquiao. (PNA)
