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PHILIPPINES-POLITICS-CRIME
Philippine mayor on Duterte’s ‘narco list’ killed in office
MANILA, Sept 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A Philippine mayor on President Rodrigo
Duterte’s list of allegedly narcotics-linked officials was shot dead in his
own office on Wednesday, police said.
Mariano Blanco, mayor of the southern town of Ronda, is the latest in a
spate of local officials to be slain in recent months, some with and some
without alleged links to the illegal drug trade.
The Philippines has a violent and often deadly political culture, but
watchdogs have expressed concern Duterte’s narcotics crackdown may be
emboldening assailants.
Blanco, 59, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen after midnight in his
office, the local police chief said.
“Witnesses said four armed persons alighted from a white van and entered
the municipal hall… The mayor was there as he was sleeping in his office,”
Senior Inspector Jayr Palcon told AFP.
It was unclear why Blanco had decided to stay in his office overnight.
The mayor was pronounced dead at the hospital and the motive for the
killing is under investigation.
Palcon said the mayor was on Duterte’s so-called narco-list of officials
involved in drugs, which was confirmed by a spokesman for the Philippines’
Drug Enforcement Agency.
Blanco’s killing comes nearly a year after the National Police Commission
stripped him of control over the local police for allegedly being “engaged in
illegal drug trade activities,” the agency said.
Another recent high profile killing came in July when mayor Antonio Halili
was shot by a sniper during a flag raising ceremony at the town hall in
Tanauan, south of Manila.
Blanco and Halili are among at least six mayors or vice mayors killed in
the Philippines since May.
Blanco’s nephew and town vice mayor Jonah John Ungab was also shot dead by
unidentified gunmen in February after attending a court hearing, police said.
The killings come as authorities are pursuing Duterte’s deadly crackdown
on narcotics.
Police say 4,410 alleged drug dealers or users have been killed as part of
the anti-drug campaign that Duterte launched since winning elections in mid-
2016.
Rights groups charge that the actual death toll is three times higher and
that the police and shadowy vigilantes are murdering people even without
proof they are linked to drugs.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1220 hrs