Leaving Marinduque after the 2013 elections due to threats and harassments, some even aired over a local radio program, fire gutted my house on January 12, 2014, following an intrusion the night before. The Inquirer ran a story about the incident two days later (below).
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| Philippine Daily Inquirer article, Jan. 14, 2014 |
SAN PEDRO CITY—The author of an online article that was used
to question the eligibility of Regina Ongsiako Reyes as candidate for
Marinduque representative started to fear for his safety after losing his house
to a fire just days after an intruder barged into his home.
Eliseo Obligacion, a 62-year-old blogger, lost his home, a
two-story house by the beach in Barangay (village) Amoingon to a fire on Sunday
evening.
Prior to this, an unidentified man barged into his house on
Saturday evening, Obligacion said.
The intruder rushed out without hurting Obligacion’s
caretaker and her two granddaughters upon realizing the house was not empty, he
said.
Boac fire chief Senior Fire Officer 3 Felix Echaveria, in a
phone interview on Tuesday, said a joint investigation by the fire bureau and
the local police would determine if the fire that started in Obligacion’s room
was deliberate.
Echaveria said the case was complicated given the claims of
a prior intrusion.
Obligacion, who owns the blog Marinduque Rising and a former
tourism consultant of Reyes’ rival Lord Allan Jay Velasco, said he lived in
that house for 22 years but recently moved elsewhere when he felt that
Marinduque “has become a very dangerous” place for him to live in.
In January 2013, Obligacion wrote an article titled “Seeking
and finding the truth about Regina Reyes,” that presented a database of Reyes’
immigration records as an American citizen and holder of a US passport since
2005.
The blog was used as evidence to support the petition of a
certain Joseph Socorro Tan from Torrijos, Marinduque, that paved the way for
the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to cancel Reyes’ candidacy in the May
2013 elections.
Reyes, a daughter of Marinduque Gov. Carmencita Reyes,
appealed the Comelec ruling to the Supreme Court and claimed the case was under
the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives Election Tribunal (HRET).
Amid the controversy, Reyes, a member of the ruling Liberal
Party, was proclaimed by a local Comelec tally body as the winner against
Velasco.
She was also recognized as a member of Congress despite a
Supreme Court ruling that upheld her disqualification.
In a text message on Tuesday, Reyes denied any hand in the
fire and attack on Obligacion.
“It is not in our character and I pray for Mr. Obligacion’s
enlightenment,” she said. - Inquirer
