By ANTHONY GIRON
IMUS CITY, Cavite – A barangay chairman was killed and four others, including a senior and minor, were wounded when two gunmen opened fire at a covered court in Silang Tuesday night.
Police identified the fatality as Barangay Yakal chairman Naldie Neri Secretario, 46, who was declared dead on arrival at Asia Medic Hospital in Silang.
The attack happened around 10 p.m. while Secretario was presiding over a barangay activity.
Wounded during the attack were Pedecio Mabaya Vidal, 60; Lourdes Pitao Bernardino, 53; and Anita Barrosa Alcober, 57, all residents of Barangay Yakal; and Dairuz Samonte Bacnotan, 13, of Barangay Bulihan, also in Silang.
Vidal was confined at De La Salle University Medical Center in Dasmariñas City for body bullet wound operation. The three other victims sustained minor injuries and were brought to General Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital in Trece Martires City.
Police said the gunmen were armed with .45 cal. and .9mm pistols and fled on board a motorcycle.
Chief Insp. Resty E. Soriano, Silang police chief, said that he was looking into two possible motives – vengeance and the alleged drug links of Secretario and other barangay officials.
Soriano said the suspects shot Secretario several times. The other victims were hit by stray bullets.
Chief Insp. Amer C. Magsumbol and the Scene of the Crime Operative (SoCO) team recovered 13 shells for .45 cal. and .9mm pistols, two live bullets, three slugs, and an olive green holster.
Soriano alleged that Secretario was validated to have drug links even before the last barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK or Youth Council) elections.
The police chief also cited that the attack may have also something to do with the apprehension by barangay men of one Eric Saksak, a drug courier of a drug supplier, a certain Lito Bayacal, who is operating in Barangay Paliparan, Dasmariñas City and Bulihan, Silang.
Homicide investigators are now looking into closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage and witnesses’ accounts that may help in solving the case.
Secretario was the fifth barangay chairman killed by unidentified men in Cavite province in the last 15 months. Two barangay kagawads (councilors) were also reported killed in shooting incidents in the province during the period.
