Negros Oriental town councilor shot dead

DUMAGUETE CITY — A councilor of Sta. Catalina town in southern Negros Oriental was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assassins on Sunday morning, Jan. 10.

Rude Anthony Melodia, 29, was having his car washed along the national highway in the town’s center when three still unidentified gunmen boarding two motorcycles suddenly shot him twice, according to Major Rolan Aliser, acting police chief of Sta. Catalina.

The assassins fled to Bayawan City while Melodia was rushed to the Bayawan District Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival by the attending physicians.

Four empty shells from a caliber .45 pistol were recovered from the crime scene.

Police have yet to determine the identity of the perpetrators and the motive behind the killing.

Sources close to the victim said Melodia had been receiving death threats before he was gunned down.

Melodia was elected to the municipal council of Sta. Catalina in 2019, after serving as a Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) official and councilman of Poblacion village, the town proper.

He was the son of Ruben “Nono” Melodia, who previously served as mayor and vice mayor of Sta. Catalina town.

This is the first shooting incident involving a government official in Negros Oriental in 2021.

JE