5 shot, hacked to death in Pangasinan

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines—Five people, including a father and his son, were shot and hacked to death by a group of men who barged into their shanty in Bugallon, Pangasinan, early morning Saturday, police said.

Chief Insp. Lauro Escobar, Bugallon police chief, said policemen found Romel Namoran, 38, and his son Jomer, 17, and cousins Ernesto and Ronald Namoran and Albert Martinez when they reached the shanty in a middle of a rice field in Barangay Poblacion at past 1 a.m. Saturday.

“We have not yet established who the suspects are. We are still investigating,” Escobar said by telephone.

But he said a witness, the wife of one of the victims, told investigators that about eight to 10 men arrived in the shanty at 12:50 a.m. and started attacking them.

Escobar said the witness was able to run and report the incident to the police.

“When we got there, five people were dead. Some of them were shot and the others hacked,” Escobar said.

He said the victims had criminal records and investigators were trying to establish if their previous cases had something to do with the attack.