Sleeping man slain in Malabon

Manila, Philippines - A fried chicken vendor was sleeping in his house in Barangay Catmon, Malabon City when two men barged in and killed him Thursday night.

Superintendent Rio Gatacilo, Malabon City police deputy chief, said Joselito Maliwat, 25, died of bullet wounds in the body from a homemade shotgun and a .45 caliber pistol.

Gatacilo said Maliwat was fast asleep in his house in Sitio 6 when Marco Ameliana, a resident of Barangay Tinajeros, also in Malabon, and an unidentified companion shot him at around 7:15 p.m.

The gunmen fled, but dropped the homemade shotgun used in killing Maliwat. They remain at large.

Gatacilo said yesterday they have yet to establish the motive in Maliwat’s murder.

Barangay Catmon, particularly Sitio 6, hosts a large squatters’ colony and is a known haven of criminals, police said. Sources said lawmen are hesitant to “penetrate” the area as some of the criminal gangs with lairs in the middle of the shantytown are “heavily” armed.