HACKED. An employee of the provincial government of South Cotabato hacked to death a co-worker using a “samurai-like” bolo, as shown in the photo, following an alleged altercation inside the Capitol compound on Tuesday morning (July 9, 2019). (PNA Photo by Alejandro Saludo)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- An employee of the South Cotabato provincial government hacked to death a fellow worker following an altercation inside the Capitol compound in Koronadal City on Tuesday morning, police said.
Lt. Col. Rey Egos, acting chief of the Koronadal City police station, said the incident happened around 6:30 a.m. at the local government’s finance offices complex, located at the back of the main Capitol building.
Egos said victim Ronelo Lumawag, 43, a utility worker assigned at the Provincial Accounting Office, was cleaning a portion of the building’s second level when suspect Ric Villa, 59, approached and hacked him several times using a “samurai-like” bolo.
Citing accounts from witnesses, Egos said Lumawag tried to fend off the attack and ran away but was chased by Villa.
The suspect, also a utility worker under the Provincial General Services Office, was later restrained by responding personnel from the Provincial Security Unit (PSU), he said.
The police official said the victim, who bore multiple hack wounds on the back and other parts of the body, was rushed by other Capitol workers to the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
“Based on our initial investigation, the motive appears to be an old grudge between the two,” he said in a report.
The incident stunned provincial officials and employees as Lumawag and Villa, both permanent employees of the provincial government, were known to be friends and even worked together on some assignments.
Villa was due to retire from service next year and already submitted the necessary papers, PGSO head Marlyn Almaden said.
Eleuterio Nodado, PSU chief, said the two reportedly had a recent argument over the appointment of job order workers at the Capitol.
He said the suspect accused the victim of feeding supposedly malicious information to security escorts of Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. so his nephew’s contract will not be renewed.
But Nodado said the accusation was baseless as most Capitol workers hardly knew Tamayo’s security escorts because they only reported there last week.
“According to our duty personnel, the suspect reported to work as early, around 4 a.m., and waited for the victim,” he said.
Nodado said they immediately informed the governor regarding the incident.
As a precaution, he said they intensified the inspections on items being brought into the Capitol compound by their employees and visitors. (PNA)
