No letup in Abra’s blood politics

ABRA’S violent political culture has again left a trail of blood and dead bodies in the wake of the 2007 midterm elections, with poll-related violence claiming 16 more lives while wounding seven others.

Based on the tally by the Philippine National Police since the election period began in January, this year’s death toll includes a village chief in Bucay, reportedly a supporter of Abra winning gubernatorial candidate Eustaquio Bersamin Jr., shot dead in the early morning of Election Day; and six relatives and supporters of Lagayan Mayor Cecilia Luna who were on board her vehicle returning from a wake when fired upon by gunmen last May 4. Luna holds a slim lead over Abra Governor Vicente Valera for the province’s lone congressional district.

Among those injured were the wife of Tineg town mayor Edwin Crisologo who was shot by a poll watcher of rival mayoralty candidate Leonin Benwaren inside a precinct in the town of Bangued while the couple was monitoring the canvassing of votes two days after the elections. Crisologo was linked to the killing of Tineg Mayor Clarence Benwaren four years ago.

On the eve of Election Day, two members of the board of election inspectors in Lagayan and their two police escorts were wounded when armed men strafed their vehicles in Barangay Pulot.

The intense political rivalry among clans in the province leading to the May elections, as manifested in the December 16, 2006 assassination of Congressman Luis Bersamin Jr., merited Abra the status of an election hot spot, for which it has been placed under the control of the Commission on Elections.

Bersamin’s killing was blamed on outgoing Gov. Valera, whose clan and that of the Bersamins are the two most powerful political clans of Abra.

To be sure, violence is a fact of everyday life among Abrenians, one that is even confirmed by statistics. In 2006, the police regional office recorded 47 murders, 28 frustrated murders, two attempted murders, 22 frustrated homicides, six attempted homicides, and 11 homicide cases.

But the political clans get more attention from the police for being suspected of maintaining private armies. Ten political families in the province are supposedly under the PNP’s close watch for this suspicion. Our i Report feature points to “two main groups battling over Abra.”

The dominant group is said to be headed by Governor Vicente ‘Vicsyd’ Valera, who enjoys the allegiance of about 17 of the province’s 27 mayors. The other group is led by a triumvirate — or at least it was until one of the supposed leaders, La Paz Mayor Marc Ysrael Bernos, was killed last year while watching a basketball game in his town. But his two alleged partners, Lagayan Mayor Cecilia Luna and Bucloc Mayor Mailed Molina, are still very much around.

Luna is among those allegedly included in a PNP list of Abra politicos said to be maintaining private armed groups or PAGs. The family of the late Mayor Bernos — whose younger brother took over his post — is also supposed to be on the list. But Molina, a Cordillera People’s Liberation Army supremo, is not.

In explaining Abra’s blood politics, political analyst Joel Rocamora wrote how “violence occurs in the context of intense competition for control over local politics, especially mayorships and congressional races, but equally important, for control over illegal economic activity.””For local political clans the stakes are much higher,” said Rocamora. “Victory or defeat in election contests can make the difference between wealth and poverty. Because local political contests are mostly between political clans, the emotional content of local electoral contests is usually high. Mix with equally high levels of machismo among politicians and you have a volatile cocktail that easily produces violence.”

Woefully, that volatile cocktail has already felled 30 politicians since 2001. (see table)