In Camarines Sur, land dispute among kin kills 5, including 3 kids

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Philippines — A small community in the town of Milaor in Camarines Sur province was left in horror after an intrafamily land dispute led to a shooting rampage that left five persons from the same clan dead, three of them children, and another child critically injured.

Police were now hunting down the gunman, Arthur de Leon, for the brutal slay on Friday of his uncle Romeo de Leon, 72; nephew Samuel de Leon Cobilla Jr., 27; grandnephews Hobbie John, 6, and Robbie John, 4, both surnamed Britanico; and grandniece Noela de Leon Agliones, 7.

A report from the Bicol regional police said the 40-year-old Arthur, in camouflage clothing and armed with an M16 armalite rifle, barged into the home of Romeo in the village of Tarusanan at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, peppered the latter with bullets in the face and other parts of the body, killing him on the spot. Romeo’s grandsons—brothers Hobbie John and Robbie John—who were playing inside the house, were also hit and killed. The boys’ other sibling who was with them, Hades John, 7, was wounded in the attack and now in critical condition at a hospital in Naga City.

After shooting his uncle and grandnephews, Arthur proceeded to the adjoining house owned by Romeo’s daughter, Luzviminda Cobilla, and aimed at her but ended up shooting her son, Samuel Cobilla Jr., who shielded his mother from Arthur’s fire.

Not contended, police said Arthur threw a grenade inside the house, hitting Luzviminda’s young daughter, Noela.

The girl died while being treated in a hospital on Saturday morning, becoming the fifth fatality of the incident, according to Police Maj. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol police spokesperson.

Family feud

Police Staff Sgt. Delarry Sanchez, an investigator from the Milaor police, said the mother of the Britanico boys, Honey Rose, told police she was watching television with her father, Romeo, when Arthur barged in and went into a shooting rampage.

Honey Rose and some other family members survived the attack but she was inconsolable over the death of her father and two sons.According to the police, the dispute involved the unresolved issue of the widening of the right-of-way path leading to the residence of the family of Arthur, whose father was the cousin of Romeo.

Arthur, a former overseas Filipino worker, has already turned to farming at his hometown Milaor at the time of the incident.

Police Col. Louie de la Peña, Camarines Sur police spokesperson, said in a phone interview on Saturday that an “all-points bulletin” has been issued to all police units in the province to track down Arthur.

De la Peña said the land dispute issue had also led to the death of Romeo’s son, Marlon, on Dec. 26 last year. The suspect was Arthur’s brother, an Army soldier—Private First Class Mark Emmanuel de Leon, who was arrested on June 11 this year.

Mark Emmanuel is now detained at Camp Elias Angeles in Pili, Camarines Sur, and is facing a murder charge, said Army Maj. John Paul Belleza, public affairs chief of Philippine Army’s 9th Infantry Division.