Sayeed Muhammad: A 59-year-old Filipino city mayor, Mariano Blanco, 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. He was.
The country has a history of violence and often deadly political culture, with watchdogs fearing that Duterte’s narcotics crackdown may be emboldening assailants, reports AFP.
The mayor of the southern town of Ronda, Blanco 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 said. 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 was being investigation. Palcon said the mayor was on Duterte’s so-called narco-list of officials involved in drugs—a development 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”.
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, too, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in February after attending a court hearing.
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.
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