Teacher, pregnant wife killed in gun attack in Cotabato

Content warning: Graphic violence

COTABATO CITY — Gunmen killed a high school teacher and his pregnant wife in an attack at their computer shop in the center of Matalam town, Cotabato province, on Wednesday night, May 14.

Local executives and investigators from the Matalam Municipal Police Station told reporters on Thursday, May 15, that Eliser Sugaste and his wife, Lalaine, were both declared dead on arrival by physicians at a hospital where a team of policemen and local government emergency responders brought them for treatment.

In a report to Col. Gilberto Tuzon, director of the Cotabato Provincial Police Office, Matalam police said the Sugastes were inside their computer shop when the assailants arrived and, at gunpoint, demanded the key to their motorcycle parked near the entrance.

After obtaining the motorcycle key, the gunmen shot the couple multiple times and fled on getaway motorcycles. One of the assailants rode off on the Sugastes' motorcycle.

Relatives and colleagues of Sugaste from the government-run Matalam National High School told reporters they believe the attack was not a simple case of motorcycle theft, but a premeditated killing possibly rooted in a long-standing conflict between the couple and their assailants.

They called on local officials and the Matalam municipal police to work together in resolving the case swiftly and delivering justice to the victims.