Gunmen slay COA employee in Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Suspected guns-for-hire riding a motorcycle together shot dead on Friday night a senior staff member of the Cotabato regional office of the Commission on Audit.

The victim, Engineer Oliver Samonte, 53, an inspector of government-funded projects being monitored by the COA’s office for Central Mindanao, was on his way home on a motorcycle when one of the suspects trailing behind shot him on the head with a caliber .45 pistol as they got close.

Relatives and co-workers said Samonte, who was killed instantly, had no known enemies.

Senior Inspector Ronaldo Delantin, chief of the Cotabato City police station II, said investigators still have to determine if the murder of Samonte was work-related, or could have stemmed from an old grudge.

Hired killers have been operating in Cotabato City with impunity since 2010, killing some 300 people in one attack after another, some perpetrated right in busy spots, in broad daylight.