| Case Study 1
Abra
Despite its early-on classification as an “area of concern” by the Philippine National Police, the province of Abra still recorded the most number of election-related violence in the Cordillera Administrative Region, with six incidents. In the last elections, the province continued to show its virulent political situation with violence sparked as clans tried to wrestle control over their local fiefdoms.
One violent incident happened in Barangay Pang-ot in Lagayan town on May 9, election day, when a confrontation between two groups of supporters of local candidates led to a shootout which resulted in the killing of Manuel Zacarias, 49, a barangay tanod, and the wounding of two others.
According to the PNP investigation, a group of about ten supporters of mayoralty candidate Jodel Crisologo were on their way to cast their votes when they were allegedly confronted by supporters of rival candidate Jendricks Luna. A heated argument reportedly ensued, which led to a shootout.
This incident, together with the other violent cases recorded in Abra in the recently-concluded elections, is seen as sparked by the continuing turf war among the province’s feuding political clans.
Abra politics follows the same pattern observed elsewhere in the country, where traditional political families try to perpetuate their stay in power by establishing mini dynasties, and aim to keep a tight grip on the local political structure.
Police officials admit that political families in Abra are known to maintain a group of armed supporters, euphemistically referred to locally as “tropa” (troops) or “grupo” (group). But the prevailing gun culture there, where ordinary folk including women are known to carry firearms, coupled with the series of unsolved killings over many years, seem to have fomented a culture of violence in Abra, which has earned the province the infamous label of “killing capital of the country”.
Of the three deaths recorded as ERI in Abra, two involved the rivalry between two of Abra’s warring political families, Luna of Lagayan town and Crisologo of Tineg. In the recent elections, members of both families battled each other in their respective turfs.
Lagayan has been known to be Luna territory. But in the recent elections, JodelCrisologo, challenged Jendricks for the mayoralty post.
Tineg, on the other hand, has been controlled by Crisologo family, led by former mayor and newly-reelected vice mayor EdwinCrisologo Sr. His second wife, Corinthia, was challenged by Cromwell Luna.
These contest prolonged the rivalry between the Luna and Crisologo clans, which only turned for the worse when then Bangued mayor Ryan Luna was tagged as the brains behind the 2007 killing of Brenda Crisologo, the first wife of Crisologo Sr.
One of three deaths recorded in Abra in the recent elections, Zacarias is a supporter of re-electionist mayor Jendricks Luna, scion of the Luna clan that dominated Lagayan’s politics after martial law. His grandmother is former mayor Anita while his mother is former long-term mayor and Rep. Cecilia Seares-Luna.
Lagayan is a fifth-class town located on the northwestern part of the province, with a population of 4,500. From 2013 to 2015, it received more than P137.5 million in Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), according to records of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
In a 2011 VERA Files report, a complaint was filed against then Ligangmga Barangay president Jendricks Luna for plunder, which listed a series of alleged anomalous transactions in the local government.
In her sworn statement, Bernadine Joson, the town’s former planning and development officer, Joson said accused Luna of pocketing the salaries and benefits of town employees, as well as payments for ghost employees and projects.
“This was possible because during this period and until now, key members of the family and their cronies controlled key offices of the local government, including the Sangguniang Bayan,” the report then said, quoting Joson’s affidavit.
Jendricks, along with his wife Joy Chrisma, recently won their respective re-election bids as mayor and vice mayor. But Cecilia, former Bangued mayor Ryan and brother Cromwell suffered defeats in their candidacy for congress, vice governor, and Tineg mayor, respectively.
During his term as mayor in 2013, Ryan was indicted for murder and was ordered arrested, prompting him to go into hiding two weeks before election day of that year. He lost his re-election bid, and surfaced just before the start of this year’s election season after posting bail.
With a voting population of only 3,500, Tineg is not considered vote-rich and thus, politicians running for provincial posts pay little attention. But it has become the center of intense political rivalry supposedly because it receives the largest share of IRA among Abra towns, owing to its large land area: 745 sq. km—bigger than all of Metro Manila.
A second-class town, Tineg has been the host of intense political unrest purportedly because it receives the highest IRA among all of Abra’s 27 municipalities. According to DBM records, Tineg got a total of P290 million in IRA releases from 2013 to 2015.
“As always the case in Abra, the cases of political violence in Tineg are nothing but a scuffle over IRA,” said a source, who asked not to be named for reasons of safety.
In that single ERI case recorded in Tineg, a campaign supporter was found dead inside a Ford Ranger pick-up truck owned by candidate Cromwell Luna. In the ensuing PNP investigation, the victim, one GaboyMewag (Liwag in other news reports) was killed supposedly in a gunbattle between the group of Crisologo and Luna, when the Ford ranger, which is identified as owned by former Congresswoman Luna drove past Crisologos on its way to Barangay Alaoa.
“Vice mayor Crisologo had supposedly warned (Luna) not to enter Alaoa, but which apparently the latter refused to heed. When (Crisologo’s group) saw Luna’s pickup truck drive past, they gave chase and fired upon them, hitting one of the victims,” Senior Supt. Antonio Bartolome, Abra police director said.
Charges of murder and frustrated murder have been filed with the Department of Justice against vice mayor Crisologo and four of his men. |
