TACLOBAN CITY – A town councilor and his wife were shot dead by still unidentified perpetrators inside their house in Barangay Jose Rono, Paranas, Samar yesterday.
Police Lt. Col. Bella Rentuaya, Eastern Visayas police information officer, identified the victims as Claudio Gabiana, Sangguniang Bayan member of Jiabong, Samar, and his wife, Asuncion.
The incident reportedly occurred around 7 a.m. when unidentified assailants allegedly armed with long firearms barged into the residence of the victims and shot them. The suspects immediately fled after the incident.
Joint elements of the 87th Army Infantry Battalion and 2nd Samar Provincial Mobile Force Company are still conducting a clearing operation in the area.
Other nearby police stations are also conducting checkpoints on the information that the place of the incident is a known New People’s Army-infested area.
Barangay Jose Rono is approximately 30 kilometers away from the town proper, and has a poor communication network. (Marie Tonette Marticio)