4 farm caretakers, including boy, stabbed, hacked to death in Compostela Valley

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Philippines – Four farm caretakers were stabbed and hacked to death by unidentified men in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley, on Sunday, police on Monday said.

The victims who included a 13-year-old boy were hogtied and their bodies bore stab and hack wounds when discovered by residents at Purok (Community) 3, Barangay (the village of) Basak around 8:25 a.m., said Supt. Antonio Rivera, Southern Mindanao police spokesperson.

Rivera identified the victims as Ramil Quilaton, 31; Ruel Quilaton, 36; John Mark Diongson; and 13-year old Diongson. The victims were residents of Purok 9, Poblacion village, in Compostela municipality.

The victims were caretakers of a track of land in Basak where a relative of the Quilatons is a tenant. Authorities were eyeing land dispute as one of the possible angles behind the killing.

“The Nabunturan police are still ascertaining the circumstances as well as the possible motive and suspects behind this,” Rivera told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by text message.