Bukidnon tribal leader slain by suspected rebels

DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — A tribal leader in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon, was shot and killed last week by armed men believed to be communist rebels, military reports said.

First Lt. Ken Cabbigat, civil military operations officer of the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion, said Datu Sammy Diwangan, 45, an indigenous peoples representative to the Canangaan village council, was cutting a tree when four men arrived and shot him, hitting him in the forehead and other parts of his body.

Diwangan’s 9-year-old son, John, was about to bring a gallon of chainsaw fuel to his father when he saw the armed men approach.

He managed to flee, Cabbigat said.

Diwangan, Cabbigat said, was a “strong community leader” who resisted the New People’s Army’s recruitment activities in his village.—Eldie Aguirre and Orlando Dinoy