Elderly couple, daughter slain in Cotabato gun attack

MATALAM, Cotabato, Philippines – An elderly couple and their daughter, all of them farmers, were killed in a gun attack here by still unidentified gunmen on Saturday night, according to Maj. Joseph Brian Placer, chief of the Matalam Municipal Police Station.

Three others were injured and were undergoing treatment in a hospital here.

Killed in the 7 p.m. attack in Purok Sampaguita, Barangay Poblacion were couple Joe and Ernesta Getalla, both 70, and their 43-year-old daughter Lorena Getalla. All three were farmers and residents of Barangay Poblacion here.

Lt. Col. Bernard Tayong, Cotabato province police spokesperson identified the other injured as Emmelita, Jose, and Daryll — all surnamed Getalla.

Chief Master Sgt. Usman, the team leader of police officers who went to the crime scene, said the victims were having dinner in their house in the middle of their farmland when the assailants, armed with long firearms, came and opened fire at around 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Two of the victims died on the spot and another one expired in the hospital.

Executive Master Sgt. (PEMS) Moises Abril said 11 empty shells from an M16 rifle were recovered from the crime scene.

/atm