Engineer killed, 2 wounded in 2 gun attacks in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY — A structural design engineer was killed while a construction worker and a security guard were injured in separate gun attacks within two hours in Cotabato City on Wednesday afternoon, February 19.

Roland Daguan, who was shot thrice with a .45 caliber pistol by a subordinate worker inside the KCC Mall building being constructed for three years now, died in a hospital where emergency responders brought him for treatment.

Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Cotabato City police director, told reporters on Thursday, February 20, that the policemen who responded to the incident had arrested a suspect in the daytime murder of Dagu-an, now in their custody and is undergoing interrogation.

The suspect had wounded a co-worker, Reno Delos Santos, hit by a stray bullet when he repeatedly shot Dagu-an with a pistol.

Laborers working in the still unfinished four-story building, covering about seven hectares of land in Cotabato City’s main commercial hub, panicked as gunshots reverberated through the scene. 

Construction workers who had witnessed the gun attacks said Dagu-an and his assailant had a misunderstanding over work issues. 

About two hours later, two gunmen riding a motorcycle together wounded a security guard at a branch of the RD Pawnshop Incorporated, only about 500 meters away from where Dagu-an was killed.

The victim, Dominic Villar, who was on duty at that time, sustained bullet wounds in the abdomen, arm and leg. 

Bongcayao said Villar was at the entrance of the establishment he was guarding when two motorcycle-riding attackers pulled over, opened fire, and immediately fled the scene.

The wounded Villar is now confined at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center.

Police investigators and Villar's relatives believe the attempted murder could be linked to a financial dispute with a neighbor to whom he owed a large sum of money.

The neighbor had allegedly threatened to have Villar killed for failing to repay the debt as agreed upon several months ago, according to Villar’s family and neighbors.