2 killed over unpaid bet

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - A butcher and a construction worker were killed while three others were wounded in a shooting incident here Tuesday night, sparked by a disagreement over P100 worth of unpaid bet for a cards game.

The fatalities, Joseph Abao Sabaria, 45, a carpenter, and his friend, 35-year-old Randy Liboon Bukana, a livestock butcher, were killed by their own drinking buddies, relatives Eugene and Jolen, both surnamed Ganancial, using .45 caliber handguns.

The victims and the suspects, along with three other friends, were playing cards and drinking while at the wake of a dead neighbor at a house along Tamse Road here when they figured in an altercation.

As the brawl ensued, the Ganancials drew handguns from their waists and shot Sabaria and Bukana, killing them both on the spot.

Two others, tricycle driver Ravelie Alapante, 32, and Jojo Liboon, 30, also a butcher, and Alkasar Aripin, 28, were wounded in the shooting frenzy.

The Ganancials commandeered a motorcycle parked nearby and escaped, leaving their dead and wounded friends.