Water firm worker shot dead

VIRAC, Catanduanes, Philippines—A longtime worker of the Virac Water District was found dead on a mountain slope overlooking this capital town, an official of VIWAD said Friday.

The body of Maximino Tablo was discovered on Thursday afternoon a few meters from the firm’s water reservoir in Sitio Padurog, Barangay Sto. Niño at 2 p.m. or almost an hour after his wife reported him missing, according to Engineer Elmer Macenas, VIWAD officer-in-charge.

Tablo, 42, bore three gunshot wounds on the left chest with one of the bullets exiting through the back, said Macenas.

Macenas said Tablo had been working with VIWAD as a water tender since 1992, taking over after the victim’s father retired from the firm.

As water facility tender, Tablo cleans the reservoir’s intake area and injects chlorine on a daily basis, said Macenas.

Superintendent Alvin Gruba, Virac police chief, said Scene of Crime Operatives found a .45 cal. bullet casing among the bloodstains in the trail leading to Bolo’s body.

Investigators were still considering leads on the suspect in the case. Bolo’s wife initially told police that on Tuesday, her husband had a heated argument with an elder brother, a former Army soldier, over shares in the family’s rice field.