NEWSBRIEFS

DAVAO ORIENTAL

Rebels kill ex-comrade

Suspected communist hit men shot dead a former rebel leader in full view of his family in Mati City on Sunday.

Ruperto Cadungog, alias “Toper,” was inside his house in Sitio Fairview in Barangay Central when a group of men barged in at around 7:45 p.m. and shot him as his family watched before fleeing, said Captain Raul Villegas, spokesperson of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

Cadungog used to be a leader of the New People’s Army, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Villegas said, but added that it was not clear why he was killed. Frinston L. Lim, Inquirer Mindanao

GENERAL SANTOS CITY

‘Pacman’ guard stabbed dead

Policemen are hunting a man suspected of killing a bodyguard of Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao on Sunday.

Senior Police Officer 3 Rey Edradan, a member of the Sarangani police, died from multiple stab wounds in the hospital, a police report said.

Edradan was entering the house of a certain Rowena Cabaniog inside the Doña Soledad Subdivision in Barangay Labangal at past 11 p.m. when he was attacked by someone, whose identity was withheld by police.

Witnesses said that after stabbing Edradan, the suspect helped send him to the hospital before fleeing, forcibly taking Cabaniog and her two children with him. Aquiles Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao

LAGUNA

Policemen hunt 4 rape-slay suspects

Police are looking for four more suspects in the rape and murder of a 66-year-old woman in Calauan town last week.

A suspect, Jeffrey Yumugan, a relocatee from Estero de Paco in Manila, was earlier arrested and admitted to the crime against fellow relocatee, Nida Tomas inside the National Housing Authority relocation site in Barangay Dayap, said Chief Inspector Jesson Bombasi, municipal police chief.

A pedicab driver found Tomas’ body in a shallow canal a day after she was reported missing Wednesday night, Bombasi said.

Two witnesses later surfaced and identified Yumugan and four other men who were last seen with Tomas. Investigation showed the suspects, all in their late 20s, were drunk when they committed the crime. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon

CEBU

2 vessels get stalled

Two vessels of a Cebu-based shipping company encountered trouble Sunday evening and Monday dawn while sailing at sea.

The MV Trans-Asia 5 was stalled at 10 p.m. on Sunday off Naga City after developing engine trouble, while the MV Trans-Asia 3 met a similar fate at around 5:30 a.m. on Monday near Shell Island because of “oil starvation.”

All 531 passengers and crew of Trans-Asia 5 were safe, said Capt. Rolando Punzalan, commander of the Cebu Coast Guard station.

Trans-Asia 3 ran out of engine fuel, which delayed its arrival at the Cebu City Port by two hours. All its 188 passengers and 16 crewmen were safe.

The Maritime Industry Authority would reinspect the two vessels before they could sail again, Punzalan said. Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas