Philippine mayor, wife die in police raid

MANILA, Philippines — A mayor who had been accused by President Rodrigo Duterte of involvement in drug trafficking was killed along with his wife and 10 other people in coordinated police raids early Sunday, authorities said.

Reynaldo Parojinog, mayor of Ozamiz in the southern Philippines, died in a firefight at his home after his security personnel shot at drug enforcement officers, who had come to arrest him and three members of his family, according to the Philippine National Police.

His wife, Susan Parojinog, and five other people were also killed, and a second raid at another house owned by the family left five more people dead, police said. Reynaldo Parojinog’s daughter, Nova Princess Parojinog-Echavez, deputy mayor of Ozamiz, was among “scores” of people arrested, said Ernesto Abella, a spokesman for Duterte.

Police said they confiscated high-powered rifles, bundles of cash and an unspecified amount of methamphetamines at Reynaldo Parojinog’s home. A police official, Chief Superintendent Timoteo Pacleb, said one officer had been wounded in the firefight but that his life was not in danger.

Reynaldo Parojinog and his daughter were among more than 150 Philippine officials, including mayors, judges and police officers, who Duterte accused of being involved with illegal narcotics in a televised speech last August. The Parojinogs denied the accusation.

In October, Samsudin Dimaukom, mayor of Datu Saudi-Ampatuan in the southern Philippines, was gunned down at a checkpoint by police officers, who said his guards had fired at them. In November, another mayor, Rolando Espinosa Sr., was shot and killed by police officers in his jail cell.