ARINGAY, La Union – Religious groups in various parts of the province strongly condemned the recent attempt by some disgruntled political quarters to assassinate a barangay captain, who is a candidate for municipal councilor, saying that the failed bid to kill an innocent politician has no place in the town and must be denounced in the strongest possible terms.

The statement was issued by different religious organizations after two witnesses in the attempted murder of punong barangay Federico Borja of barangay Santa Cecilia here surfaced and identified a relative of a top municipal official as the alleged mastermind in the first election-related violence in the province prior to the campaign period for the May 2010 elections.

The religious groups cited law enforcers must work double time to identify and arrest the perpetrators of the violent incident so that the same will not be done to other candidates in the town, especially that election date is just around the corner.

Borja, 49, married is still on the way to recovery in a private hospital in San Fernando City, La Union after he survived an attempt by two still unidentified motorcycle-riding armed men to kill him in front of the Santa Cecilia Elementary School Saturday morning.

The La Union provincial police office created a task force to investigate the attempted murder of the punong barangay and its members are now in the process of assessing and evaluating the testimonies of possible witnesses so that they could ascertain the identities of the suspects as well as the mastermind of the election-related violence.

The incumbent punong barangay, who is opposing the present administration, suffered two gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body from a caliber .45 pistol which was believed to have been used by the suspects in the perpetration of the crime.

Probers and witnesses are asking why a top municipal official was in the vicinity of the crime scene right after the victim was shot by two suspects who immediately fled towards an undisclosed direction.

Because of the occurrence of the first election-related violence in the province, regional and provincial police authorities directed their police operating units to intensify their mobile and stationary checkpoints in their respective places of assignment so that they could intercept the proliferation of unlicensed firearms which are being used by unscrupulous individuals in the commission of crimes, especially against the rivals of their benefactors.