Monday, May 10, 2010

Malinao barangay captain killed, nephew wounded in ambush
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL / The NewsToday
http://www.thenewstoday.info/2010/05/11/aklan.village.chief.killed.nephew.wounded.in.ambush.html

KALIBO, Aklan – A barangay captain was killed while his nephew was wounded when they were fired upon by still unidentified gunmen in Malinao, Aklan on Sunday afternoon.
Police identified the fatality as Efren Fernando, barangay chairman of Capataga, Malinao, Aklan, who sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was driving his motorcycle along with his nephew in the uphill portion of Sitio Badiano, Barangay Bulabod when they were ambushed at about 5 p.m.
Wounded in the attack was the 25-year old back-rider Ronelo Fernando-Renacido, who was brought to the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital in the capital town of Kalibo for treatment. Ronelo suffered minor gunshot wounds to the thigh and hands, it was learned.
Ronelo, a barangay tanod, said while they were in the adjacent Barangay Sugnod they received a text message from his cousin that a group of armed men were seen waiting for them.
“Prior to the ambush, we talked with the barangay captains of Sugnod and Bulabod and while on our way home on board the motorcycle, armed men who were apparently waiting for us opened fire. In the first volley of gunfire, my uncle (Efren Fernando) was hit several times in the body since he was the target of the armed men,” he said.

Renacido said he intentionally fell down from the motorcycle to elude the suspects who continue to shot the barangay captain. Three hours after the shooting, the police recovered empty shells of caliber 45 and 9mm pistols.
As this developed, Aklan police director Senior Superintendent Epifanio Bragais, Jr. has ordered a thorough investigation into the fatal shooting of the barangay captain. The Malinao police unit was looking at politics or old grudges as possible motives of the murder incident.
Bragais said Ronelo identified one of the suspects as Rannie Fernando Vicente, a barangay tanod and a relative of the slain barangay captain. A police investigator in Malinao said the barangay captain is a supporter of a mayoral candidate at the time of the shooting incident.
Fernando was the first barangay official in the province who was killed since the Commission on Elections (Comelec) implemented the nationwide gun ban for the May 10 polls.

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