The murder of Luis Mondia

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The official campaign period for local governments has not yet started but Negros Occidental has already recorded an incident of violence that everybody in the province seems to believe is related to it.

On Wednesday last week, the former mayor of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, was shot dead as he was coming out of the Jaro Cathedral in Iloilo City. Former mayor Luis Mondia was with his wife and a 7-year-old granddaughter when he was cold-bloodedly murdered.

It was no ordinary mass that the couple had attended, it was the Ash Wednesday ceremony during which Catholics submit to the imposition of specially blessed ashes on their foreheads, a ritual that is intended to remind them that they, too, will turn to dust after death. So perhaps, former mayor Mondia was in a composed state of mind at the time, having just been reminded of his mortality.

Butthe dastardly killing of the man, who had served his town, and who had hoped to do so again, by filing his certificates of candidacy to be able to make another bid in the May 2010 polls, has aroused fear, not only in his town, Pulupandan, especially among his followers and supporters. It has also opened the eyes of Negrenses all over that such a thing could happen to one of them, and thatthe victim could be traced to another city where he reportedly had been staying in order to avoid trouble in his own town.

Suspicions and speculations have been raised, but even the police have not given any definite statements about their possible suspects. This makes the incident more alarming, because the official campaign period is nearing, and the people are apprehensive that this will be another case where the perpetrators will get away with impunity.

There is therefore a need to challenge not only the police, but all other agencies whose job is related to the preservation of peace and order, to go all out in pinning down the suspects. They have claimed to have witnesses who got a full view of the suspects’ appearances. That is encouraging, but unless they can snare even just one of them, this incident can only add to the disenchantment of the citizenry in the organization. The onus of solving the Mondia killing is upon them, and they should show results – soon.*