Police say killing of Bukidnon lawyer on Duterte drug list was likely driven by personal grudge

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Police are investigating personal grudge as a motive for the killing of a lawyer in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon province on Thursday (Jan. 14).

Winston Intong, 53, was shot by two motorcycle-riding gunmen while buying vegetables in a mini-market near his home in Malaybalay City around 7 a.m. on Thursday.

Intong suffered five gunshot wounds in the chest, said Lt. Col. Jerry Tambis, Malaybalay police chief.

Tambis added that Intong died while being brought to the hospital.

According to the Malaybalay police’s initial investigation, the motive for the gun attack could be personal.

Tambis said there had been threats to the life of Intong prior to the attack. “He was said to have a personal grudge with someone,” he said.

Tambis said investigators are still trying to get the identities of the gunmen and individuals who had quarrelled with Intong prior to the attack.

A store keeper, identified as Roel Paligi, was wounded in the attack.

In 2011, Intong, along with a dentist and two other persons, were arrested in a drug buy-bust inside his office in Valencia City. That time, he allegedly sold a sachet of crystal meth to an undercover agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Capt. Jiselle Ester Lou Longakit, spokesperson of the Bukidnon police office, said Intong was acquitted of the drug charges.

Longakit also cited investigation by the Malaybalay police saying that Intong was on President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug suspects’ list.

TSB