DUMAGUETE CITY -- A former mayor, his cousin, a councilor, and a barangay captain were killed in two separate shooting incidents in Ayungon town and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental early Saturday.
Sketchy reports from the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office identified the victims as former Ayungon mayor Edsel Gimang Enardecido, 60; his cousin, Leo Enardecido, 45; Canlaon City Councilor Ramon Jalandoni, 65, of Barangay Panubigan; and Barangay Captain Ernesto Posadas of Panubigan, Canlaon City.
The first shooting incident took place in Canlaon City at around 12:14 a.m. when unidentified armed men, believed to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA), barged into the house of Jalandoni and shot him dead.
The gunmen marked Jalandoni’s car and a wall of his house with “Mabuhay ang NPA… Ibagsak si Duterte (Long live the NPA... Down with Duterte)”.
Some 26 minutes later, at about 12:40 a.m., unidentified armed men also forced their way into the house of Posadas and gunned him down. The suspects also wrote “Mabuhay ang NPA” on a wall of the victim's house before leaving in a white van.
Police investigators in Canlaon City believed gunmen from the same group killed both Canlaon officials based on the pattern of the crimes.
Meanwhile in Ayungon, an initial police report said unidentified armed men entered the house of former mayor Enardecido in Barangay Tampocon I at about r2:30 a.m. and shot him dead. His cousin, Leo Enardecido was killed in the same attack.
Police has reported 15 people killed in different parts of Negros Oriental in the past two days.
Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo is slated to hold a press conference at noon Saturday to address the spate of killings in the province, which has escalated following the July 18 slay of four policemen in Ayungon.
The Philippine National Police is yet to ascertain whether all the shooting incidents are related. (PNA)
