Zamboanga City village chief shot dead

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Zamboanga del Sur – Serbelio Beyong Molina, 55, woke early Friday to address village concerns before a meeting with newly elected barangay chairpersons.

At 7 a.m. in Barangay Cawit, Molina was directing traffic along the national highway when a series of gunshots rang out, and he collapsed, bleeding profusely from the head.

City police director Colonel Alexander Lorenzo reported that around 7:30 a.m., unidentified motorcyclists shot Molina, who died from four gunshot wounds to the head.

Lorenzo explained that Molina, re-elected on Oct. 30, had a police escort after reporting a threat to his life, but dismissed the security detail post-elections.

“It is very unfortunate,” Lorenzo said.

“We lost a good leader. We are demanding justice for his killing,” Cawit resident Mark Arsad stated, praising Molina’s anti-drug efforts and arrests of drug dealers. “He did nightly patrols and helped authorities arrest drug hawkers and peddlers.”

Molina was also recognized for his actions against abuses of women and children. “If he learned about women or children being abused or exploited, he immediately intervened and arrested the perpetrator,” Arsad recalled.

Lorenzo noted that Molina’s shooting is the 75th such incident in the city this year.