Village councilman shot dead in Negros Oriental

DUMAGUETE CITY — A village councilman in the southern town of Dauin, Negros Oriental, was shot dead on Thursday morning (June 3), just a week after President Rodrigo Duterte said he was “appalled” by the killings in this province.

Agustin Aragones, a councilman in the village of Maayongtubig in Dauin town, was watering plants outside his home when two motorcycle-riding gunmen suddenly shot him several times.

Aragones’ relatives rushed him to the Holy Child Hospital in this city where he was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

Capt. Louie Batuto, chief of the Dauin Police Station, said the victim suffered a gunshot wound on his head.

The crime came less than a month after the murder of village chairman Stephen Alam of Bagacay, Dauin town.

Four suspects—all from Mindanao—were arrested in northern Vallehermoso town just hours after Alam was killed on May 5.

Just a week ago, President Duterte appealed to stop the political killings in Negros Oriental during a May 24 meeting with the National and Regional Peace and Order Council at the Silliman University Gymnasium in this city.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque,  in a press briefing the following day, said that Duterte was “appalled” by the killings in the province.

In the same meeting, Duterte also ordered that all sand and gravel as well as quarry operations in Negros Oriental be stopped.

The order was later announced in an advisory on Wednesday (June 2) by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Central Visayas.

Quarry operators in the province have been ordered to submit their position papers on the matter to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO).