Samar town exec, wife shot dead

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — A municipal councilor in Samar and his wife were shot dead by unidentified assailants who barged into their house in Barangay Jose Rono, Jiabong yesterday morning.

Claudio Gabiana, 54, and his wife Corazon, 47, were having breakfast at around 6 a.m. when two armed men entered and shot them several times.

The Gabianas were declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

Corazon was former chief of Barangay Jose Rono.

The assailants, who fled after the killing, did not harm the couple’s children.

Probers have yet to verify reports that the New People’s Army was responsible for the killing.

Jiabong is among towns in Eastern Visayas being monitored by authorities due to its insurgency problem and history of election-related violence.

Records show that at least three village chiefs were recently killed in Northern Samar and one each in Leyte and Southern Leyte.

The other day, Councilor  Esteban Tarrayo of  Barangay Carmen, Calbayog City was killed in an ambush by alleged members of a private armed group.