ILOILO CITY – A 49-year-old barangay captain from a mountain barangay in Tapaz, Capiz was killed in Calinog, Iloilo Sunday.
Authorities identified the victim as Julie Catamin, barangay chairman of Barangay Roosevelt.
Calinog police chief Capt. Genesis Roque said Catamin was
driving a motorcycle on his way home after visiting a relative when a
person riding another motorcycle appeared and opened fired at the victim in Barangay Malitbog at 8:45 a.m.
Roque said that the crime scene was more or less 300 meters from the boundary of Calinog.
Catamin sustained multiple bullet wounds, including in the back, and four empty gun shells were recovered in the area.
Roque said Catamin had prior death threats and reported these to the police in Tapaz.
The Calinog police chief declined to comment if the killing of Catamin is related to the deadly police raid in Tapaz and Calinog last December. Nine members of the indigenous peoples (IPs) Panay Bukidnon were killed and 16 others were arrested when police simultaneously served warrants of arrest for illegal possession of firearms.
Catamin had denounced police for allegedly planting firearms as evidence.