Soldier shot to death while attending fiesta

A Philippine Army corporal who was attending a fiesta celebration with three other companions was shot dead by an unknown assailant in sitio Mang-alho, barangay, Ipil, Carmen town midnight yesterday.

Eric Lucero, 32, a barangay Norte resident who is assigned at the Special Operation Command based in Iloilo City, was shot in the head. The bullet entered the left side of his head and exited at the right side.

The victim was brought to Danao City District Hospital but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

Initial police investigation revealed that Lucero, together with three relatives, attended the fiesta celebration in Ipil and had a few drinks at the house of barangay councilman Flaviano Batiquel.

The group then went to a benefit dance nearby where the assailant fired at De Guzman. The victim's .45 caliber firearm with four live ammunition, his cellular phone, money, assorted identification cards and watch were turned over to the Carmen Police Station.

The Carmen police are now conducting investigation into De Guzman's killing without discounting the possibility that it was carried out by communist rebels. Insurgency was once a serious problem in the area where an Army soldier was also killed sometime in 2004.

The victim's body was brought to St. Peter Memorial Funeral Homes for autopsy.

Meanwhile, military's Central Command spokesman Col. Jefferson Omandam told The Freeman that they did not discount the possibility that the New People's Army was behind the incident since the place was among those in the midnorth area where the rebels' presence is frequently spotted.

Describing the killing as treacherous, Omandam said that although the victim was known in the place, there was an intention to kill him since the murder was perpetrated at night. - Norvie S. Misa