Murder charges filed vs gunmen in slay of Samar village ex-chief

CATBALOGAN CITY, Philippines – A case of murder was filed against the suspected gunmen in the Sunday killing of Felomino Cabarriban, former chief of Barangay Lagundi in this city.

Charged were Reymund Bañar, 21, a native of Brgy. San Andres, also of this city but had been staying in Brgy Lagundi for about 2 months already when the Sunday killing occurred, and another one which was identified only as “John Doe.”

Police Regional Office-8 director, Chief Supt. Elmer Soria, told The Freeman the charges are now with the City Prosecutor’s Office, docketed under NPS-VIII-08-INQ-131-00432.

Soria said Bañar was positively identified by witnesses as one of the two gunmen who shot Cabarriban dead, while two unidentified others served as lookouts.

“He (Bañar) was nabbed inside his hideout, located about two kilometers from the crime scene around 7pm on Sunday and was positively identified by witnesses. He underwent paraffin testing, while our investigators have generated computerized composite facial sketches of the remaining suspects based on the witnesses accounts,” Soria said.

The results of the paraffin test is yet to be released, as of this writing, but police told that a continuous manhunt operation is now still in progress against three other suspects.

The victim was a 3-termer village chief, after which his wife took over his post. He was reported to be running again for barangay chairman in the coming elections.

The police however would not confirm just yet if the killing was political, pending the final result of the investigation. –(FREEMAN)