Basilan school principal killed

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Motorcycle-riding men gunned down a public high school principal in Lamitan, Basilan last Tuesday, authorities said.

Nick Castro, security chief of Lamitan Mayor Roderick Furigay, said Joselito Verzosa, principal of the Parang Basak National High School in Barangay Parang Basak, was cruising Barangay Sabong on his motorcycle when he was attacked.

Castro said investigation showed that the gunmen, who were riding tandem on a red Honda motorcycle, had tailed Versoza on his way to the school from his residence in Barangay Busay, Isabela City.

Police were still clueless on the killing since Verzosa reportedly had had no conflict with anybody, except that he was assigned in a predominantly Muslim village, Castro said.

Meanwhile, police still have no word on the whereabouts of Grace Gonzales, a deaf-mute daughter of Western Mindanao State University president Edilgario Gonzales who was kidnapped by suspected Abu Sayyaf men in Zamboanga City two weeks ago.

Reports said the girl’s abductors have brought her to Tuburan, Basilan.