Church coordinator, family survive strafing in Zamboanga del Sur village

House of the church coordinator

PAGADIAN CITY – The house of a church coordinator active in the campaigns of the Church was strafed by unidentified gunmen deep in the night of Friday, April 25, but luckily, he and his family survived.

Rumulo Abear Reyes, 72, has been active in the campaigns of the Church and is not in any way involved in politics but his house in Purok Nangka, Barangay Simata of Molave town in Zamboanga del Sur was strafed while he and his family were about to sleep at 10:25 p.m., police said.

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Reyes has been an active coordinator of the Basic Ecclesiastical Community (BCC) at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Josefina town, said Elizabeth Monteza, director of the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Pagadian.

Police Col. Bonifacio Arañas Jr., provincial director of the Zamboanga del Sur police, said the family of three that included Reyes, 72, Anita Pindo Reyes, 61, and Claudio Manon-og Lumantap, 57, were having dinner indoor when they heard a sudden gun burst at the front portion of the house. They dropped on the ground and took cover for safety.

They heard a second burst of gunfire outside as the still unidentified gunmen on board a single motorcycle immediately fled towards Barangay Rosario of the same town.

According to Monteza, Reyes had no rivals and never received threats. Being an active leader in the parish, he was not involved in politics.

Investigators found the roof of the house, just above the cemented wall to be hit by bullets. Later, they recovered nine fired empty shells of a caliber 5.56.

The crime scene was only 15 kilometers from the Molave Police Station.

Police said they had ascertained that the victims were not political candidates of the upcoming national and local midterm elections nor a leader or supporter of a political candidate, hence, were still investigating other possible motives for the strafing.