Since early last week until yesterday afternoon, 17 persons were killed in a series of shooting incidents in various places in Negros Oriental.
The latest incident was at the Oval Public Market in Barangay Panubigan, Canlaon City at about 3 p.m. yesterday.
Policemen identified the victim as Anaciancino Rosita, married and a resident of Brgy. Bucalan, Canlaon.
Rosita was shot by still unidentied suspects.
Early Saturday, a former mayor, his cousin, a councilor, and a barangay captain were killed in two separate shooting incidents in Ayungon town and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.
Reports from the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office identified the victims as former Ayungon mayor Edsel Gimang Enardecido, 60; his cousin, Leo Enardecido, 45; Canlaon City Councilor Ramon Jalandoni, 65, of Barangay Panubigan; and Barangay Captain Ernesto Posadas of Panubigan, Canlaon.
The first shooting incident took place in Canlaon at around 12:14 a.m. when unidentified armed men, believed to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA), barged into the house of Jalandoni and shot him dead.
The gunmen marked Jalandoni’s car and a wall of his house with “Mabuhay ang NPA… Ibagsak si Duterte (Long live the NPA… Down with Duterte)”.
Some 26 minutes later, at about 12:40 a.m., unidentified armed men also forced their way into the house of Posadas and gunned him down. The suspects also wrote “Mabuhay ang NPA” on a wall of the victim’s house before leaving in a white van.
Police investigators in Canlaon believed gunmen from the same group killed both Canlaon officials based on the pattern of the crimes.
Meanwhile in Ayungon, an initial police report said unidentified armed men entered the house of former mayor Enardecido in Barangay Tampocon I at about 2:30 a.m. and shot him dead. His cousin, Leo Enardecido was killed in the same attack.
Police has reported 15 people killed in different parts of Negros Oriental in the past two days alone.
The spate of killings in the province has escalated following the July 18 slay of four policemen in Ayungon.
The Philippine National Police is yet to ascertain whether all the shooting incidents are related.
YESTERDAY, of recent shooting incidents in Negros Oriental, only about five have the confirmed involvement of the New People’s Army (NPA), Police Regional Office-7 director Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas told reporters.
“Even when NPA-related messages were sprayed all over their homes, the killings of Canlaon councilor Ramon Jalandoni and Barangay Panubigan chairman Ernesto Posadas last Saturday cannot be determined as NPA-related,” Sinas said, noting that it may be the work of other criminals who are using the name of the rebel group.* (NDB, with reports from PNA, UMPH, Yes! The Best Dumaguete, Original Energy Dumaguete)
