Estate firm exec shot dead

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — A top executive of an estate firm here was killed and his companion was critically injured when motorcycle riding men shot them Friday, a few distance from the Hall of Justice where they attended a high-profile land dispute case.

Police investigator Jerard Mark Jubelag of the Lagao Police Station identified the fatality as Rodrigo Adtoon, 51, a resident of Barangay Labangal, this city and one Exequil Ramos, 53, and secretary of a prominent lawyer. Jubelag said Adtoon, who is the manager of the Makar Agricultural Development Corp., and Ramos have just come out from a court hearing on board a Mitsubishi pick-up (LCW-215) when the chasing attackers hit them at about 3:30 p.m. at the intersection of NLSA and Jose Catolico Ave., some 300 meters away from the Hall of Justice.

“The motorcycle driver who was wearing a helmet and the gunman wearing a jacket and hiding his face with a handkerchief approached the victims from the back and shot the victims twice,” Jubelag told The STAR. Adtoon was hit at the back of his head while Ramos, who is the secretary of lawyer Nilo Flaviano and handling the land conflict, got a bullet wound in his throat.

The police have recovered one slug and two empty shells of a .45 caliber pistol from the crime scene and they are now looking at the possible motive of the killing on the land conflict being handled by Adtoon which began years back.   

Jubelag said the relatives of the victims told them that the hearing Friday attended by the victims was about the settlement of the land dispute, involving some 937 hectares being occupied by Adtoon’s firm located at the upmarket area adjacent to the Makar International Port in Barangay Labangal.