Brgy chairman shot dead in Iloilo

CEBU, Philippines – Forty-seven-year-old Chairman Rufino Bilan Jr., of Barangay Cabiluan, was gunned down Monday evening at a neighbor's house in Barotac Nuevo town of Iloilo.

Bilan succumbed to three injuries: Two on his neck with the bullet exiting on his eye and one on the back of his body.

A certain Roland Jordan found Bilan lying on the pavement near the house of Rolyn Trestiza around 11:45 p.m. The victim was rushed to the hospital but did not make it.

Inspector Sullen Domingo, Barotac Nuevo Police chief, said investigators have yet to establish the motive of the incident, and that no witness has come out yet to shed light on what happened to Bilan.

Domingo said the police will start their investigation on Trestiza's whereabouts, because the latter was reported to have fled the village after Bilan's death. Trestiza and Bilan were known in the village as drinking and chat buddies, said the police.

According to Bilan's wife, her husband was cooking for Tuesday's Christmas Party at the village when he suddenly left the house. It was not known what was the victim's purpose in going to Trestiza's house.

Shortly later, three gun fires were heard. Police later recovered from the scene three empty shells and one bullet slug of a .45-caliber pistol at the crime scene.

Despite Bilan's death, the village went on with the scheduled, but somber, Christmas Party.