Retired teacher, businessman killed in central Mindanao gun attacks

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A retired public school teacher and a businessman were killed while a barangay chairman was seriously wounded in separate gun attacks Wednesday in central Mindanao.

The 68-year-old teacher, Ofelia Maria Castillano, was shot dead while inside a tricycle in a residential area in Kidapawan City by two men riding a motorcycle together.

Lt. Col. Ramel Hojilla, Kidapawan City police chief, said Thursday, the killers of Castillano, both wearing facemasks and dark eyeglasses, immediately escaped after the attack.

The driver of the tricycle carrying Castillano survived the attack unscathed.

The incident was preceded by the murder two hours earlier of the 43-year-old businessman Rex Liboon in the public market of Esperanza town in Sultan Kudarat.

Liboon was shot from behind by two men armed with .45 caliber pistols, according to a report from the Esperanza municipal police.

His killers scampered away towards different directions amid a commotion triggered by the shooting incident.

Norodin Manalasal, chairman of Barangay Malingaw in Midsayap town in North Cotabato was shot and wounded on the same day by two men armed with pistols.

Manalasal was riding a barangay service vehicle motoring through a busy thoroughfare in the town proper of Midsayap when two men on a motorcycle trailing behind opened fire as they got close, hitting him four times in different parts of his body.

Lt. Col. John Calinga, chief of the Midsayap municipal police, said Thursday responding policemen rushed Manalasal to a hospital for treatment.

Calinga said the attempt to kill Manalasal could be related to his being chairman of an interior barangay where a number of families are locked in deadly clan wars sparked either by political rivalries, or land disputes.