ILOILO – A mayoral candidate in the town of Calinog, Iloilo, Sangguniang Bayan member Francisco Calvo, denied that his driver was among the group of men who mauled a trisikad driver on April 19.
This was likely a case of mistaken identity, said Calvo, stressing that he has strict orders to his staff not to do shenanigans.
On Good Friday, trisikad driver Edgar Lastimoso complained to the Calinog police station that he was mauled by a group of men who chased him to the town’s bus terminal in Barangay Libot.
He claimed one of the men was a driver of Calvo but failed to identify this man.
“It was not my driver. Such claim was politically motivated to ruin my person,” Calvo told Panay News.
Lastimoso, a resident of Barangay Poblacion Ilawod, Calinog, showed to the police the cuts and bruises he sustained from the mauling. He received treatment at the Dr. Ricardo S. Provido Memorial District Hospital.
Sources said that Lastimoso, at the time he was mauled, was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the name of Calinog candidate for mayor Andrew Gustilo, a member of the Calinog Sangguniang Banay.
The group of men who mauled Lastimoso may have been angered by the trisikad driver’s wearing of the t-shirt, according to sources.
There are three candidates for mayor of Calinog this May 13 midterm elections – Calvo, Gustilo and Rene Hurtada who is the incumbent vice mayor./PN
