Suspected NPA rebels kill Sorsogon village chief

Sorsogon City, Sorsogon (Google maps)

LEGAZPI CITY—A village chairman was shot dead on Wednesday night by still unidentified gunmen believed to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Sorsogon City, police said Thursday.

Victim Oscar Jetomo, village chief of Barangay (village) Marinas in Sorsogon City, instantly died after around three gunmen fired at him at close range at around 8:45 p.m. in his own residence, Senior Supt. Marlo Tejada, Sorsogon police provincial director, said.

Tejada, in a phone interview, said the suspects approached the village chief pretending to seek for assistance prior to the shooting.

Police investigators are looking into the possibilities that the killing was insurgency-related, since the NPA rebels allegedly suspected the victim was a military asset, and that the incident may have stemmed from a personal grudge. JPV