La Union on poll hotspot list – PNP

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday said La Union would be included in the list of election hotspots after the killing of the Balaoan town vice mayor and his escort, and wounding the mayor in an ambush.

Director General Oscar Albayal-

La Union on their list of hotspots but the Commission on Elections will decide on whether to put the province under its control during the 2019 midterm elections

Vice Mayor Alfred Concepcion and his security aide Mike Ulep were killed in an ambush on Wednesday morning along the BalaoanLuna provincial road. Concepcion’s daughter, Mayor Aleli Concepcion was wounded.

In an interview, Albayalde said they are still in the process of collating data on the areas to be included in the list of election hotspots.

A province can be included in the list if there is a history of election-related violence or there is heated rivalry between politicians.

He previously listed Abra, Masbate, Lanao and Zamboanga provinces as “perennial” election hotspots that would most likely be included again in the list for 2019.

Authorities are still determining the motive for the ambush of the vice mayor and his aide.

Meanwhile, Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula, regional police director, ordered the creation of a Special Investigation Task Group to look into all possible motives for the attack to identify and arrest the perpetrators. He assured they would release progress reports on the case at the soonest possible time.

A few hours after the ambush, pursuing policemen exchanged

of assassins who were transferring to another getaway van tailing the Toyota Rav 4 used by the gunmen to escape after the ambush.

The gray Toyota Rav 4 was taken into custody and being compared to the vehicle used by the suspects through images captured by a CCTV camera of a school near the crime scene.