Barangay chief, farmer shot dead on way to Calbayog City Hall

This is the note that the killers left on the body of Barangay Chairman Roberto Habilles Jr. (Photo by ROBERT DEJON/Inquirer Visayas)

CALBAYOG CITY — A barangay chief and his companion were shot dead on Thursday morning while on their way to meet Mayor Ronald Aquino of Calbayog in Samar.

Chief Insp. Angelo Pueblo, Samar provincial intelligence chief, identified the victims as Roberto Habilles Jr., 38-year-old chairman of Barangay Dinagan, and Novilito Ygbuhay, a 41-year-old farmer from the same barangay.

Pueblo said the killers left a note on the body of Habilles that read: “Oplan Tuklaw! Huwag tularan Kap adik at tulak ng druga! UGDS-EV-8.”

(“Don’t follow the Captain an addict and a pusher! UGDS-EV-8”)

Pueblo said investigators were still trying to figure out what UGDS-EV-8 stood for, as it was the first time they had encountered the initials, apparently the name of a group.

According to the intelligence chief, Habilles and Ygbuhay were on their way to the Calbayog City Hall for an appointment with the mayor to discuss the possibility of Ybguhay taking over the post of his brother, a barangay kagawad, who died last month.

Barangay Dinagan is about 15 kilometers away from the city proper.

Habilles and Ygbuhay were on a motorcycle traversing a muddy road at around 8 a.m. when unidentified men came out under cover of thick grasses and fired at them.

As the two men fell on the ground, the gunmen approached them and shot them in their faces and heads until they were almost beyond recognition.

Scene of the Crime Operatives recovered empty shells from three types of firearms – an M-16 rifle (5.56 mm), a 9-mm pistol, and a .45-caliber pistol.

Pueblos said investigators were still verifying if indeed Habilles had been using and selling illegal drugs. /ATM