CALBAYOG CITY, Samar, Philippines — A village chief and his councilor were shot dead by still unidentified gunmen while in a meeting inside the Barangay (village) Hall of Dagum here about 10:40 a.m. on Wednesday.
The fatalities were identified as Rio Merencillo Lebario, 45, the barangay chairperson of Dagum, and barangay councilor Dionesio Tarrayo Lungsod, 55.
The victims were attending a meeting of the River Control Auxiliary Group on the second floor of the barangay hall on Wednesday morning when two unidentified armed men entered and suddenly shot Lebario.
Barangay Secretary Elma Pampanga, who sat beside Lebario to take down the minutes of the meeting, said they all took cover under the table when the shots were fired.
She then saw the body of Lebario lying on the floor. Pampanga said Lungsod ran toward an adjacent office of the session hall but the gunmen followed him and shot him too.
SPO3 Inocentes Laure, crime scene investigator, said the victims sustained multiple gunshot wounds in their head and chest.
He said the two gunmen had a companion on the ground floor who served as a lookout.
After the shooting, the perpetrators fled on board a single motorcycle.
The killing of Lebario and Lungsod came three days after unidentified gunman shot and killed Carayman village chief Edgar Dormiendo Belleza, 35, on the evening of May 17.
The police had yet to determine the motives of the killings or if the two killings were related. SFM