A vice mayoral aspirant in Maguindanao on her way Thursday to the Commission on Elections office (Comelec) in Datu Piang town has collapsed and eventually died before reaching a hospital.
Mayor Victor Samama said last-termer Sangguniang Bayan member Bai Diana Mantawil Mokalid was on her way to the mayor’s house for an assembly before going to the Comelec office to file their certificates of candidacy when she died around 11 a.m.
A video posted by a relative showed the 67-year-old Mokalid was walking with other candidates heading to the mayor’s residence when she fell and collapsed.
Her supporters were chanting “Tita, Tita” as she and other candidates paraded around town leading to Samama’s home before the incident.
Mokalid, more known in Datu Piang as “Tita ng Bayan,” was to run for vice mayor with Samama as her running mate.
“Relatives and supporters rushed her to nearby Midsayap hospital but expired along the way,” Samama said.
Emma Tahir Alim, one of her supporters, theorized exhaustion could have triggered her to collapse. Her official cause of death has yet to be announced to the media.
Source: Philippines News Agency