An ally of a Philippine presidential candidate has been shot dead, police said yesterday, months after the politically motivated massacre of more than 50 people rocked the country.
Oscar Animo, a local organizer for former Philippine defense minister Gilberto Teodoro and his Lakas-Kampi party in May’s election, was gunned down as he rode his motorcycle through a town on Mindano island, in the south of the country.
Police in Tagana-an town said the killing was likely over a personal grudge, but Lakas-Kampi vice president Francisco Matugas insisted the murder was linked to the election.
“It was politically motivated. He was killed precisely because he was our supporter and local coordinator,” Matugas told reporters.
Matugas did not say who might be behind the killing.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has endorsed Teodoro as her chosen successor but he has so far struggled in opinion polls.
Animo is the second political figure to be murdered in Tagana-an in the run-up to May’s elections. Wilbert Suanco Origenes, an opposition candidate for vice mayor, was shot dead in December.
Elections in the Philippines have often been marred by violence with some politicians using hired gunmen and private armies to intimidate rivals and voters.
In the worst incident, 57 people were massacred in the southern province of Maguindanao on Nov. 23. The son of the then-governor of Maguindanao has been charged over the killings, which authorities allege he organized to prevent a rival challenging him for a provincial post.
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