Gunman kills gov’t engineer while police, wife, daughter look on Mar 26th, 2018   [viewed 7 times]

What would a police officer do when seeing a person killed by gunmen just some few meters from where he is standing? None.

This was what happened when an engineer working for the provincial government was shot March 20 and killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Ipil town’s busy intersection. The town of Ipil is the provincial capital of Zamboanga Sibugay in the western region of Southern Philippines.

The Provincial Police Office identified the victim as engineer Jarano Dacula, a resident of Bangkerohan village, Ipil town.

 Dacula was shot and killed at 5:30 p.m. on March 20 in front of a gas station just across the town’s Commercial Center building.

 The victim was driving his motorcycle on the way home with his daughter and wife when two men riding on another motorcycle blocked his path. One of the two unidentified men shot the victim twice. Witnesses said the victim was able to stop his motorcycle and raised his two hands gesturing for surrender before he was shot. 

Dacula, according to witnesses, fell to the ground. His daughter came to his side when the gunman disembarked from the motorcycle and shot repeatedly the victim while the daughter screamed for help.

A police officer, whose name was not known, nearby was not able to react as the gunman casually walked to his motorcycle and sped away.

 The victim was rushed to the hospital but failed to reach the hospital alive.

 Recovered from the crime scene were six empty shells of caliber .45 pistol.

 The Ipil police are eyeing personal grudge as the most possible motive for the incident.

Killings become a daily occurrence throughout the country since President Duterte came to power in 2016 on a platform to end corruption and drug problem.

Over 4,000 had died in legitimate police operations, according to the police. Rights groups, however, almost 20,000 had already died in mostly questionable circumstances, either through police operations or vigilante-style of killings. (Antonio Manaytay)