Davao electric coop official shot dead

TAGUM CITY, Philippines — The head of one of the factions of Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco) was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley on Monday evening.

Senior Supt. Armando de Leon, Compostela Valley police chief, said Engr. Maximo Roxas Jr. was attacked as he was coming out of a restaurant at a department store along Arabejo Street in Barangay (Village) Poblacion around 7:30 p.m.

“It was a daring attack as the victim was shot even when there was a police patrol nearby. (The perpetrators) were able to escape after a brief chase by our policemen,” the police official said.

He said authorities were pursuing certain angles as to the possible motive behind the incident but declined to elaborate.

Roxas was the third official of Daneco under the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to be murdered in barely three years.

The power utility energizing Compostela Valley and more than half of Davao del Norte, including the Island Garden City of Samal, which has at least 130,000 service connections, has been torn apart since 2012 after a handful of its former officials bolted from the NEA-supervised entity. CBB