Village chair slain in gold-rich town in Agusan del Sur

ROSARIO, AGUSAN DEL SUR — The chair of Poblacion village here was gunned down while he was lounging in the terrace of his house Friday night.

Julie Chua, who died as he was rushed to the San Francisco Doctors Hospital,  was the second village chair slain by still unknown assassins in just one month.

Senior Inspector Gary Boniao, Rosario police chief, said Chua was relaxing on his ironwood sofa in the terrace when a lone gunman on a motorcycle, wearing a white baseball cap, shot him 10 times.

A month earlier, Teotimo Carampatana Saday, chair of the neighboring Cabantao village, was killed as he got off from his SUV in front of his house.

Residents expressed concern over the spate of killings and the rising political violence in this gold-rich mining town.

Chua and Saday belonged to rival political camps.

Chua, who used to serve as vice mayor for two terms, belonged to the opposition group.  He was expected to seek his old post as vice mayor in next year’s elections.

Saday, who supported the local administration party, was supposed to run for an elective post next year.

The local police still faced a blank wall on these killings.

Next year’s local polls are expected to be hotly contested between rich politicians engaged in gold tunnel mining in “high grade”gold rush areas.