4 shot dead in 3 separate incidents in Negros Oriental

ILOILO CITY, Philippines —Four more persons including a child were shot dead in three separate incidents in Negros Oriental on Thursday bring the number of fatalities to seven in a spate of killings in just one day in the province.

Shootings occurred in the towns of Siaton, Ayungon and Sta. Catalina, according to initial reports reaching the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office.

Motorcycle-riding gunmen shot dead Raklin Astorias in Barangay Maloh in Siaton, the southernmost municipality of the province.

At 5:10 p.m., assailants on board a motorcycle repeatedly shot Reden Eleuterio who was driving a motorcycle in Barangay Tampocon II in Ayungon town. Eleuterio, 50, was taken to the Bindoy District hospital for treatment but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician, according to the police report.

The police station of Sta. Catalina town reported that two persons died and two others were wounded in a shooting incident around 8 p.m. in Barangay San Jose.

One of the fatalities was identified as Marlon Ocampo while the other is an unidentified child of unknown age.

Wounded was the unnamed wife of Ocampo and another child.

Three persons were also shot dead early Thursday in Guihulngan City. Siblings Arthur and Ardale Bayawa and Romeo Alipan in Guihulngan and Reden Eleuterio in Ayungon town in Negros Oriental.

Armed men gunned down siblings Arthur and Ardale Bayawa inside their house in Barangay Hibaiyo around 12:55 a.m.

Arthur was principal of the Guihulngan National High School-Poblacion Special Science Class while Adale was chief of the Curriculum Implementation Division of the Department of Education city division.

Romeo Alipan, village chief of Buenavista, was gunned down inside his house in Barangay Poblacion around 1:40 a.m. /muf