Mayor tagged as narco-politician killed in raid

A MAYOR named among those involved in the narcotics trade was shot dead in a police raid at his home Sunday, authorities said, the latest official to be killed since President Rodrigo R. Duterte launched what has become a controversial drug war.

Mr. Duterte has singled out local officials — tagging them an “narco-politicians” — along with policemen and judges as part of a crackdown that has made him popular with many Filipinos but has been condemned by human rights groups and other critics.

Among those Mr. Duterte named was Reynaldo O. Parojinog, Sr., mayor of Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental. He was killed along with his wife, his brother and nine others in a dawn raid, police said.

“Police were serving a search warrant when the security guards of the mayor fired at them so our policemen retaliated,” Police Regional spokesman Superintendent Lemuel B. Gonda told AFP.

However, Jeffrey Ocang, an aide to the Parojinogs who are an influential political clan, denied there had been any exchange of gunfire and said the mayor’s camp did not fire a shot.

Police said none of their officers were hurt apart from one who sustained a minor injury from an explosion.

Following the raid, police arrested Mr. Parojinog’s daughter, Nova Princess Parojinog-Echavez, the city’s vice-mayor, and said she would face charges. Several others were also arrested.

Senior Supt. Jaysen C. de Guzman, the Misamis Occidental provincial police chief, confirmed to ����ý in a phone interview that they seized firearms, rocket-propelled grenades, and illegal drugs from the Parojinog’s properties.

“SOCO (Scenes of the Crime Operatives) is still processing the crime scene while CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) is conducting search and seizure/inventory of illegal items found in their residence and farm,” Police Senior Supt. Timoteo Gascon Pacleb, Northern Mindanao Police Regional director, said in a text message to reporters.

Mr. Duterte won the presidency last year promising to kill tens of thousands of criminals to prevent the Philippines from becoming a narco-state.

Since he took office, police have reported killing nearly 3,200 people in the drug war.

More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes, according to police data.

Rights groups say many of those victims have been killed by vigilante death squads linked to the government, and that Mr. Duterte may be overseeing a crime against humanity.

In a speech last year, Mr. Duterte said Mr. Parojinog was among mayors involved in the illegal drug trade.

Police said Sunday they had conducted surveillance on Mr. Parojinog based on the President’s remarks.

Two other mayors mentioned in the President’s so-called “drug list” were killed last year.

In November, Rolando R. Espinosa, Sr., mayor of Albuera town, was killed during a night-time raid in a provincial jail.

Mr. Duterte had defended the officers involved in the raid and ordered their reinstatement, with critics saying the decision would worsen the nation’s “culture of impunity.”

In October, Samsudin Dimaukom, mayor of the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, was killed in a shoot-out in a police checkpoint on suspicion he and his security personnel were transporting illegal drugs, authorities said.

Mr. Duterte, in his 2^nd State of the Nation Address last June 24, warned that the drug campaign will continue to be “relentless.”

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto C. Abella, in a statement yesterday, reiterated this, saying: “The Administration vowed to intensify the drug campaign.”

“The Parojinogs, if you would recall, are included in (Mr. Duterte’s) list of personalities involved in the illegal drug trade,” Mr. Abella said. — AFP with reports from Jil Danielle M. Caro and Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral