Newly promoted bus firm officer, relative shot dead in Cotabato

FILE PHOTO

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Unidentified men on Sunday shot dead an officer of a bus firm and his teenage companion in Midsayap, North Cotabato.

Ademar Pangato, 33, and his relative, Wahid Pangato, 16, were gunned down inside a Mindanao Star bus at about 3 p.m. while it was traveling in Barangay Villarica, said Senior Inspector Reylan Mamon, deputy police chief of Midsayap.
According to Mamon, two men who boarded the bus at the town terminal suddenly pulled out guns and shot the Pangatos.

Investigators are looking at family feud as a possible motive. The victims were from Barangay Nuling, Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao.

After the shooting, the gunmen hopped off the bus and boarded two motorcycles driven by two accomplishes and fled.

Mamon said Pangato had just been promoted as supervisor of inspectors of the bus firm covering the area of Cotabato, General Santos and Davao region.

Six .45-caliber bullet casings were found inside the bus.

Elpidio Calisan, the bus driver, said he pulled the bus over after hearing a series of gun bursts from the rear of the vehicle. CBB/rga