MASBATE CITY - Political observers here called it “political massacre” to describe the sad fate of three members of the Espinosa clan who tried to stretch their luck in the local polls.

        Rep. Emilio Espinosa, the patriarch of the Espinosas and presently the Deputy House Speaker for Luzon, lost by a wide margin to the wife of his arch-rival, Dr. Olga Kho.

        Kho, who was proclaimed Tuesday night by the Provincial Board of Canvasers, garnered a total of 123, 945 while Espinosa chalked up 101, 286. Kho gave up her more than 2,000 votes in Milagros town to Espinosa after his lawyers raised questions on the number of votes.

        Espinosa’s niece, Maloli, also lost her bid to capture the 2nd congressional district seat to incumbent Gov. Antonio Kho, also by a wide margin. Espinosa got 34,685 against Kho’s 48,364.

        Another Espinosa scion, Nanette, placed last in a four-cornered vice-guberntorial fight which was dominated by incumbent Vice-Governor Vicente Revil.

        But two of Espinosa’s allies were able to regain their posts in the congressional race in the first and third districts.

        Incumbent Rep. Narciso Bravo, an in-law of the Espinosas, won by a narorow margin of 809 votes over his challenger, lawyer Ranier Butalid. Bravo got 27,726 against Butalid’s 26,917 votes.

        However, Rep. Rizalina Lanete won by landslide in the province’s third district with a vote of 73, 329 against his closest rival Felipe Cabatana who only got 32,678.

        Lawyer Romeo Fortes, Masbate’s provincial election supervisor, told Bicol Mail in an interview that all the winning candidates in the provincial level had already been proclaimed except for the four members of the provincial board in the second district as their vote counts were still being corrected due to a manifest error.

        Fortes said he expects to complete the process and be able to submit the over-all results to the National Canvassing Board by Monday.

        Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police recorded a total of seven persons killed and twenty-two wounded in election-related violent incidents that marred the balloting in this island province located in the middle of the archipelago.

        Senior Supt. Edgar Layon, police provincial director, said there were fourteen election related violent incidents that ocurred in the province, most of whom were perpetrated by suspected members of the partisan armed groups.

        The police were also able to confiscate thirty-nine high- and low-powered firearms from various individuals including six M-16 rifles who were in the possession of six suspected members of the private armed groups in Milagros and Aroroy towns.

        Layon said a total of thirty-nine persons were also charged in court for violation of the Comelec-imposed gun ban.

        The police chief said the stastistics on casulaties in this year’s election were much lower to the 2004 elections which registered twenty-two deaths.