Isabela town mayor shot dead in QC

MANILA, Philippines – A re-electionist mayor from Isabela province was killed in Quezon City Tuesday night, January 22, despite an ongoing election gun ban.

According to a report on ABS-CBN News, Erlinda Domingo, mayor of Maconacon, Isabela, was shot dead as she was about to board her maroon Mitsubishi Adventure.

Domingo was leaving the Park Villa Apartelle when she was shot. She was reportedly set to return to Isabela. Her bodyguard, Barnard Plasos, was injured during the incident, according to ABS-CBN.

The apartelle is at the corner of Quezon Avenue and Examiner Street in Barangay West Triangle.

Former Isabela Gov Grace Padaca, who’s now election commissioner, lamented the incident. “Pati babae hindi pinatawad,” Padaca wrote in her Twitter account. (Even a woman wasn’t spared.)

Domingo has been allied with the Dys and Albanos of Isabela. In 2010, she ran for mayor and won under Lakas-Kampi. This year, she was seeking re-election under Gov Faustino Dy III’s Nationalist People’s Coalition.

Domingo was being challenged by an independent, Abdulwali Villanueva.

In 2004 and 2007, Domingo was the running mate of Mayor Francisco Talosig. In 2010, when Talosig’s term was to end, he was expected to choose who to endorse between Domingo and his son Royle Gordon Talosig.

Mayor Talosig was, however, ambushed in Tuguegarao in June 2009; he died after being in coma for 4 months. At the time, police said the possible motive for his killing was his crusade against illegal logging and illegal fishing. Talosig was a former forester and Maconacon is one of the 4 coastal towns of Isabela. 

Domingo assumed the remainder of Talosig’s term and ran for mayor in 2010 under Lakas-Kampi. She was challenged by the younger Talosig, who ran as independent, and another independent named Walter Villanueva. – Rappler.com