Robbers shot dead solon’s aunt

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—A sugarcane planter, who was the aunt of Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, was shot dead by three bonnet-wearing robbers who barged into her residence at Brgy. Masulong in La Castellana town of Negros Occidental around 3 p.m. Saturday.

The killing took place on the first day of the 45-day gun ban for the Oct. 28 barangay elections.

Delia Colmenares, a 54-year-old widow, died on the spot from gunshot wounds in the abdomen, while her two children, Antonio Jose, 28, and Ma. Pamela, 19, were wounded also from gunshots and now confined at the Riverside Medical Center in this city.

Senior Supt. Milko Lirazan, Negros Occidental Police provincial director, said initial investigations showed that the robbery happened during the payday of the victim’s hacienda workers. The robbers however failed to open the family’s safe deposit box, investigators added.

Before staging the crime, the suspects reportedly made a diversion by setting on fire a portion of a nearby sugarcane plantation, investigations also revealed.  (FREEMAN)