AN INCUMBENT village chief and a former one in Negros Oriental were killed while two others, including a barangay watchman, were wounded in separate shooting incidents in the said province last week.
Last Saturday, Junry Depillo, barangay captain of Tibyawan in Ayungon town, was shot to death by an unidentified man inside his house around 3:30 p.m. As an elected public official, he was considered a high-value target.
Senior Inspector Romeo Cubo, chief of Ayungon Municipal Police Station, said Depillo and his two companions, barangay watchman Michael Guliman and his neighbor Geneboy Deguit, were having a conversation at the living room when a lone gunman on a motorcycle with an unidentified driver arrived and fired at them.
Depillo ran towards his room, where the gunman followed and shot him at close range. He succumbed to head injuries. Guliman and Deguit were brought to a hospital.
The gunman and the driver fled with another man on a motorcycle who served as the lookout.
Police recovered seven bullets and two slugs of .45 caliber pistol.
Cubo said Depillo was placed under surveillance for several months and was supposedly to be subjected to a drug raid next month.
He added that they are eyeing love triangle as the motive although they are considering a drug-related angle.
Depillo was identified as a drug pusher and user, but failed to surrender to the police through Oplan Tokhang.
As of Sunday, police have yet to identify the perpetrators.
“We will get the statements of Guliman and Deguit in the coming days to help in the investigation, Cubo said.
Three days earlier, a former village chief of Barangay T-Hill in Guihulngan City, was gunned down by two unidentified men on a motorcycle at Sitio Bateria, Barangay Poblacion last Wednesday.
Police identified the fatality as Russel Gemina, 45. He was a drug surrenderee.
Investigation showed that Gemina was driving his motorcycle when the assailants fired at him around 9:05 p.m.
Police recovered from the scene of the crime a fired cartridge of .45 caliber pistol.
Investigation is still ongoing.