2 barangay chiefs gunned down in Masbate

by EA Delgado

Masbate City (4 February) — Far from being deterred by the arrival of police commandos, Masbate’s political assassins struck again, gunning down two village leaders in the towns of Esperanza and San Jacinto.

Barangay Captain Danilo R. Amor was shot dead Thursday (January 28) in Barangay Poblacion, San Jacinto town by a lone gunman just hours after the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director General Jesus Verzosa, placed the entire province under “special police watch.”

The victim in the second incident, Ali D. Aranzado, president of the Association of Barangay Captains in Esperanza, was attacked on the eve of Verzosa’s visit in Camp Bonny Serrano here where he ordered the setting up of mobile checkpoints across the province to disband private armies and disarm unauthorized gun holders.

Aranzado, 35, was on his way home from a political meeting in Barangay Masbaranon when waylaid by a band of armed men around 2:30 p.m., police said.

Amor, the 52-year-old head of remote Barangay Bartolabac, was eating at about 8 p.m. when a man wearing a black jacket barged into his house and shot him in the chest in front of his wife, police said.

Aranzado and Amor were the latest victims in what appeared to be election-related incidents in Masbate. Both were not running for any elective position but they were identified with feuding politicians in their localities. (PIA Masbate)