Ex-judge in Duterte’s narco list slain

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines —  A task force has been created to investigate the killing of a former judge in Surigao del Norte after midnight on Friday.

Former Dapa-Socorro, Dapa Municipal Circuit Trial Court judge Exequil Dagala, 48, was gunned down at his house in Purok 6, Barangay Poblacion, Del Carmen on Siargao island. 

Initial investigation showed that Dagala was sleeping with his nine-year-old son on the second floor of their house when three unidentified men destroyed their front door, barged into their room and shot him several times.  

Dagala’s son was unhurt. 

Witnesses said the suspects fled in a white van.

Dagala was among those included in the President’s list of protectors of the illegal drug trade, which was released in 2016.

The Supreme Court cleared Dagala and two other judges of the allegations following the results of a fact-finding probe.

He was dismissed from the service in 2017 for immorality and gross misconduct over a video, which showed him wielding an M16 rifle, and for siring a child with his mistress.