Election killing spree in full swing 03/12/2010

Election killing spree in full swing 03/12/2010 A series of killings since the political massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province last year has set the stage for the country’s most violent election in recent history, experts warned. Politicians defying a government crackdown and running their own mini-armies are one of the key trends behind the political murders, according to independent monitors and officials trying to stem the bloodshed. “There are just too many private armies, goons for hire and entrepreneurs of violence,” Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, told Agence France Presse. “The government must urgently find ways to deter armed groups and ensure they are not used for election-related purposes.”... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune ALTERNATE URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20100312hed2.html

HEADLINES Speaker plea to SC: Compel Comelec to purge ‘zombies’ Election killing spree in full swing Roxas admits Legarda quip, says it’s a query Villar ‘invented’ rags-to-riches tale—Erap camp State of calamity declared in Mindanao Another GMA ‘mistah’ gets key post in military force