Regions Briefs

Lawyer on peace mission slain in Maguindanao

SHARIFF AGUAK, MAGUINDANAO—A lawyer was shot and killed by a fellow passenger in a van bound for Cotabato City on Wednesday, police said. Reports said lawyer Nasser Laban, 48, a peace advocate and who had been conducting forums about the Bangsamoro Organic Law, was with at least 10 passengers when the van left Tacurong City for Cotabato. Sr. Supt. Madzgani Mukaram, Maguindanao police director, said when the van reached a section of the national highway in Barangay Meta here, one of the passengers asked the driver to pull over so he could alight. The man, however, shot Laban and escaped on a motorcycle driven by another man. Laban was hit in the head. Kaliman Sangkad, 35, the van driver, was wounded after he was hit by stray bullets. — EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ

Army seizes NPA camp after clash in Quezon

LUCENA CITY—Army soldiers overran a suspected camp of communist rebels in Sampaloc town, Quezon province, on Tuesday, a military report said. Soldiers from the Army’s 1st Infantry Battalion patrolling the area around noon found the camp at Barangay San Bueno, said Capt. Patrick Jay Retumban, public affairs chief of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, in a report. He said soldiers engaged about 20 New People’s Army rebels in a 30-minute gunfight that left three soldiers wounded. Soldiers recovered an M16 rifle and personal belongings from the camp. — DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.

Drug gang member killed in Lumban shootout

SAN PEDRO CITY—A suspected member of a drug gang was killed in a buy-bust operation in Lumban town, Laguna, on Thursday, police said. Sr. Supt. Eleazar Matta, Laguna police director, said the suspect, Ched Cesaldo, a resident of Barangay Maytalang, belonged to the Manambit drug group. Matta said members of the police intelligence unit conducted the operation at Barangay Concepcion around 1:30 a.m. Cesaldo allegedly drew and fired a .38-caliber gun, prompting law enforcers to shoot back in defense. In Legazpi City, antinarcotics agents arrested four drug suspects and seized from them P442,000 worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) at Barangay Peñaranda here in an operation on Tuesday and Wednesday. — MARICAR CINCO AND MAR ARGUELLES