DAVAO CITY – Police investigators are looking into the involvement of the New People’s Army (NPA) hit squad in the death of a village leader and driver who were ambushed in Barangay Magtuod, this city on June 7.
City Chief of Police Alexander Tagum in a text message, on Tuesday, said the investigation focuses on the involvement of the NPA in the killing of barangay captain Reynaldo Tulang Dumagan of Barangay Talandang, Tugbok District and his driver Ferando Suganod.
Dumagan, his family members were on board a Barangay Disaster vehicle on their way to Davao Airport to fetch a relative when armed men in a red pick-up vehicle opened fire. Dumagan and Suganod died on the spot.
Dumagan, according to Tagum, was reportedly affiliated with the NPA but was later suspected to have turned a government informant.
Dumagan, who was on his third term as barangay captain, ran for a barangay council seat in the last barangay elections and won. His daughter was elected as the new barangay captain.
Initial investigation showed that Dumagan received a death threat five days before his death.
Tagum said the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) formed to probe the incident has one month to submit its findings.
In an interview on Friday, Undersecretary Eduardo Año, officer-in-charge of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), vowed justice for Dumagan.
Año assured that barangay officials who are resisting the communist insurgency will always have the support of the government. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)