Gunmen also hit, injure 2 children

CALBAYOG CITY, Philippines  — Two children are now in critical condition after they were hit by bullets intended for another person from riding-in-tandem gunmen in a shooting incident at Barangay Bagacay, this city Saturday afternoon.

The two victims — a 14-year-old girl who was hit on her head, and a 12-year-old girl who was hit on her upper right chest with the bullet exiting through her body — were queuing up at the front gate of a beach resort here for a supposed birthday celebration of their friend.

The target person, later identified as Jimboy Jalayajay (alias Jimboy Dealagdon) Tomnob and a resident of Barangay San Jose in this city, was also wounded earlier and is now recuperating in a medical facility in this city.

The three gunshot victims were brought to a medical facility here, but later on, the two children were immediately referred to a hospital in Tacloban City due to the critical injuries they obtained.

As of this writing, the 14-year-old girl was still fighting for her life and was again reportedly referred to another hospital in Ormoc City due to the absence of neuro-surgeon in Tacloban City.

A police report obtained by The FREEMAN showed that at around 1:10 p.m. on Saturday, Tomnob was walking along the highway along Bagacay, when the two unidentified gunmen in a motorcycle fired shots, hitting him at his right forearm.

The wounded Tomnob was able to run towards the front gate of a beach resort in the area. The gunmen chased him and fired more shots at him, but the stray bullets hit the two children instead.

The gunmen then sped off towards the city proper and, as of press time, the police were still trying to figure out the identities of the perpetrators.

From the City Police spot report, the possible motive of the shooting incident could have been due to a personal grudge between the assailants and Tomnob.

A city resident, who requested not to be identified for security purposes, however told Aksyon Radyo Catbalogan that the target victim (Tomnob) was allegedly a political leader of the “Red Camp” here.

“He used to be with the ‘Yellow Camp.’ I just don’t know if he has a pending warrant, but he is known to be a supporter of politicians from the Liberal Party before, until such time that he jumped off ship and is now working for the opposing group as a political organizer,” the source alleged.

“I totally abhor these killings in my city sir, this has been going on for decades, and this is not the first time that innocent children are dragged and being victimized by this mess. Please help us stop these killings in our city,” added the source to The FREEMAN.

Upon checking from a confidential member-list of various private armed groups (PAGs) operating in Samar province, previously obtained by the ARC from police sources, showed that the name of a man in the watchlist, Emboy Dealagdon, sounded like that of the victim, Jimboy Dealagdon, although no one can confirm just yet if the two are one and the same persons. (FREEMAN)