Another Caloocan barangay kagawad killed

MANILA, Philippines - A barangay kagawad was shot dead in Caloocan City yesterday, the fourth barangay official killed in less than a week.

Barangay 44 councilman Rogelio Escano, 53, was reportedly cooking in Tony’s Restaurant  along 8th Avenue in Grace Park when two men on a motorcycle arrived at around 6:30 a.m.

One of the men went into the kitchen and shot Escano, investigators said. One of the bullets pierced the windshield of a vehicle parked outside the restaurant, they added.

Caloocan Mayor Oscar Malapitan called a closed-door emergency meeting with police officials within hours after the attack.

A source said there is a pattern in the killings and the victims “are clearly a selected few.”

 â€œNow it is getting clear that politics is the motive and we believe there are other barangay officials who will be targeted in the next few days, unless the police arrest the (killers),” he said.

The source hinted that “if the stories that circulated after the 2013 elections were true, then this is payback time.”

Deeper probe

Malapitan said he has ordered a deeper investigation into the killings and attempts on the life of barangay officials and a city hall employee in the past three months.

He told The STAR he ordered police chief Senior Superintendent Bernard Tambaoan and the city police’s investigation chief Superintendent Ferdie del Rosario to “look into every possible angle.” 

A barangay chairman, two councilmen, and the deputy chief of the city’s northern district’s department of public safety and traffic management were killed, and another kagawad was wounded in a spate of attacks since March 22, the last three happening in span of five days.

Barangay 181 kagawad Garry Moralla, 26, was shot dead and his wife was wounded when they were attacked as they were on their way home after attending a conference at the barangay hall in Pangarap Village.

An unidentified assailant shot Barangay 174 kagawad Edward Jundayao Sunday morning as he was waiting for his wife in front of their house on Waling-Waling street in Area C, Camarin.

On Monday, former policeman Eduardo Balanay, 66, deputy chief of Caloocan City’s department of public safety and traffic management, was gunned down while clearing a vacant lot in front of his house at North Matrix Ville Subdivision.

Barangay 187 kagawad Luisito Banzon was killed on March 22 while Barangay 183 chairman Pedro Ramirez was shot in front of a hardware store along Quirino Highway three days later.

Malapitan said that except for Balanay, he is not certain if the other victims were his supporters.

“Barangay officials have their own politics in their respective areas and that could also be one of the reasons, but it has become alarming that they have been the targets,” Malapitan said.

A high-ranking police officer said the result of the investigation showed that all the murders have been perpetrated by hired killers.

He added that witnesses in at least three of the killings pointed to a certain individual, who is now the subject of their manhunt, as the perpetrator.