Braganza and son maul Celeste supporter

Gubernatorial bet Braganza (C) and son mayoral
candidate Lean

BY GATE JR.

 ALAMINOS CITY – Liberal Party gubernatorial candidate Hernani Braganza and son, Lean who is running for mayor of this city, reportedly “went wild” last night and led in the mauling of a staunch supporter of former Cong. Arthur Celeste, a mayoral bet of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).
 The incident was reported by the mauling victim himself, Marco Dalin, who said he was beaten up black-and-blue by five armed men in civilian clothes believed to be goons of Braganza, in Barangay Tawing-Tawing, this city, at about 10:30 last night (May 12, 2013).
 According to Dalin, he was mauled in the presence of Braganza and his police escorts. Dalin claimed he was monitoring an alleged vote-buying spree by Braganza’s followers in a thickly populated neighborhood along a road in the barangay when accosted and mauled by men of the LP gubernatorial bet. Dalin suffered severe cuts in the face and head, requiring four stiches to mend. Dalin’s account was later aired over Aksyon Radyo-Dagupan. Minutes after Dalin’s mauling, Braganza’s men chased Sonny Paragas, and four of his companions who rushed to the scene where Dalin was beaten up.
 Braganza’s goons caught up with Paragas’s group and told them to “put up or shut up” on the reported vote-buying, otherwise, they, too, will suffer similar injuries like Dalin.
 Surprisingly, a check with the Alaminos City Police Station revealed no record of the incident. In a related development, 10 barangay captains of NPC re-electionist Romulo Antolin in the town of San Quintin complained they were prevented from monitoring last-minute vote-buying by LP operators in the presence of policemen. The vote-buyers had a field day distributing cash, the barangay officials said. Distribution of cash to voters continued in the presence of policemen as people trooped to presincts this morning. In yet another incident of harassment, Braganza’s police escorts intercepted a van with a group of supporters of reelectionist Rep. Jesus “Boying” Celeste on board near the Alaminos-Bolinao boundary and forcibly seached the vehicle which frightened the passengers. Accosted by the police in that incident were Timi Domingo of Bolinao town and a certain Angerico Navarro, both campaign supporters of Celeste.