SLAIN. The motorcycle owned by Eddie Catigan, security personnel of the provincial government, is sprawled on the roadside in Barangay Aringay, Kabacan, North Cotabato, shortly after he was rushed to the hospital following an attack by motorcycle-riding gunmen on Monday afternoon (Aug. 7, 2020). The victim (ID inset) was declared dead on arrival by doctors at a local hospital. (Photo courtesy of Brigada News FM Cotabato)
COTABATO CITY – Security measures in the North Cotabato town of Kabacan were heightened following the shooting to death on Monday afternoon of security personnel of the provincial government along the road in Barangay Aringay where nine farmers were also recently killed.
Col. Henry Villar, provincial police director, identified the latest fatality as Eddie Catigan, resident of Barangay Buluan, also in Kabacan.
“Investigation is still ongoing,” Villar said, quoting a report from the Kabacan police office.
Initial investigation revealed that Catigan had just left his home on board a motorcycle around 5:30 p.m. for his shift as security at the provincial capitol in Kidapawan City when tailed and fired upon by gunmen riding in tandem on a separate motorcycle in Barangay Aringay.
The victim was rushed to the hospital by responding villagers and police personnel but was declared dead on arrival by doctors.
Police checkpoints and round-the-clock patrols were immediately doubled following Monday afternoon’s incident.
On Aug. 29, nine Moro residents of the town were also killed on the same area by still unidentified gunmen.
The victims, all farmers, were flagged down by an armed group and fired upon for still unknown reasons. A police-led Task Force Kabacan was immediately formed to investigate the killing of the farmers.
Various entities, however, have started a parallel investigation on the incident that included the Commission on Human Rights and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Kabacan Mayor Herlo Guzman said the National Bureau of Investigation is also looking into the slaying of the farmers.
Villar has urged the public not to link the killing of Catigan to the murder of the nine farmers, saying the incidents were not connected. (PNA)
