Popular Cotabato City barangay head shot dead

COTABATO CITY — Three suspected hired killers gunned down a popular barangay chairman here Thursday night, the seventh to be brutally felled by assassin’s bullets in recent years.

The killing of Teofilo Albores, chairman of Barangay Poblacion III, has raised indignation among various sectors, which are now clamoring for a major revamp in the city police force.

Senior Inspector Samsom Obatay, spokesman of the city police, said Albores was on his way home from the operations center of Barangay Poblacion III when the gunmen, armed with caliber .45 pistols, approached him and opened fire.

The 60-year-old Albores fell right at the doorstep of his office where he tried to seek refuge as his attackers took turns shooting him.

Albores was popular for his peaceful means of addressing conflicts among his constituents. He was also a staunch advocate of Muslim-Christian low-level dialogues to complement the peace process.

Albores’ children, some of them gainfully employed abroad, had long been prodding him to quit as barangay chairman, but he declined due to his dedication to public service.

Seven years ago, Rudolfo Lao, also the chairman of Barangay Poblacion III, was killed in his residence not far away from where Albores was gunned down.

Five other barangay chairmen here have been killed in the past seven years. Their killings have remained unsolved.

Albores’ murder came less that a week after still unidentified men tried to kill lawyer Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, solicitor-general of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, in a bomb attack at a residential area here.

Guiani-Sayadi, legal adviser of ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampa—tuan, suspects that the attempt on her life is related to her task of ridding the autonomous government of graft and corruption.