Militants decry attempt to burn campaign headquarters of partylist groups
Motorcycle-riding persons threw improvised gas lamps at a house in Arevalo district used for making campaign materials of militant party-list groups at dawn yesterday.
No one was hurt but the tarpaulin roofing of the hut was slightly burned, Wenefredo Dublezo, spokesperson of the party-list group Bayan Muna in Panay, said in an interview.
The gas lamps, made from plastic bottles of mineral water filled with gasoline and attached with a cloth wick, were thrown around 3 a.m. at the hut in Barangay Sto. Niño Sur in Arevalo District here, according to a report of the Arevalo police station.
One of the bottles ignited burning the roofing while the other fell to the ground.
John Lañada, 25, a Bayan Muna volunteer who was sleeping inside the house, said the suspects sped off in at least two motorcycles. He could not identify any of them because of the blackout that hit city at dawn until yesterday morning.
The house is situated on a lot managed by Maria Luisa Dominado, 51, a former political detainee and spokesperson of the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda) on Panay Island.
Dublezo said the house is being used to manually reproduced streamers, posters and other campaign materials of Bayan Muna and party-list groups Kabataan Party, Gabriela Women’s Party and Anakpawis.
Dublezo said they consider the incident the first case of violence on Panay Island against party-list groups.
He said the incident was part of systematic campaign of the administration to stop the party-list groups from winning in the May elections.
"The logical conclusion is that this incident is the handiwork of the administration as among their dirty tactics to destroy us," said Dublezo.
He said this is related to the arrest and transfer of Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo to Leyte, the continued detention of Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran and the filing of criminal and disqualification cases against their leaders.
Dublezo said campaign materials of the party-list groups are also being removed in designated poster areas in public plaza in the city.
Senior Supt. Wesley Barayuga, Iloilo City police director, said they are still investigating the incident.
"We have no suspects because the witness saw no one," Baruga said in a telephone interview.
He said they could not rule out the possibility that it is election-related.
Around 100 Bayan Muna members and supporters held a picket at the Plazoletagay here yesterday to protest the continued attacks against their members and to denounced the arrest and transfer of Ocampo.