Cotabato village councilman slain in gun attack; land dispute eyed as motive

Stock photo / INQUIRER.net

COTABATO CITY — Two men armed with handguns killed a councilman in a remote village of Midsayap town in Cotabato province on Tuesday afternoon (June 29).

Lt. Colonel Rolly Oranza, Midsayap police chief, identified the victim as Parocan Dilangalen, 51, of Bual Sur village.

Dilangalen was driving his motorbike heading for home from the town center at past 5 p.m. when two men on separate motorbikes were seen tailing him.

As he was near his home, one of the two men opened fire, hitting Dilangalen in his back and the bullets pierced through his chest, Oranza said.

Dilangalen was rushed to a hospital in the town where he died several hours later.

Oranza said initial investigation established that Dilangalen’s killing could be connected to a dispute over land pitting him and an unidentified family in the village.