CARMEN, North Cotabato – Police are looking at illegal drug personalities and politics to be behind Tuesday’s murder of a village chief and a village watchman here.
Supt. Bernard Tayong, spokesperson for North Cotabato police provincial office, said the murder of Joaquin Sardon Segumban, 56, village chair of Barangay Tonganon, and the village chief watchman Joey Gamotia Gamarchia, 57, could be related to the official’s active participation in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
Tayong said Senior Supt. Maximo Layugan, acting North Cotabato police director, ordered Chief Inspector Julius Malcontento, Carmen town police chief, to dig deeper into the case.
“Senior Supt. Layugan wanted to establish the motive and the personalities behind the murder of Segumban, so safety measures can be applied to protect local officials,” Tayong said.
Malcontento told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that the killing of Segumban and Gamarchia happened at Sitio Galay, Barangay Kibayao, a village before Tonganon where the official was active in the drive against illegal drugs.
Two men standing on the roadside opened fire using cal. 45 pistols as the victims’ vehicle slowed down in the village center. The killers fled on board a motorbike parked nearby following the incident.
Before the twin murder, Segumban has been receiving death threats but ignored it saying he has no known enemies.
Tayong said another angle the police investigators are looking into is politics since barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections are fast approaching.
“We are looking at all angles,” Tayong said.
In December last year, a village chairperson was also killed in Barangay Poblacion here.
Carmen Mayor Roger Taliño has summoned all village officials Wednesday to a meeting to determine if any of them has been receiving death threats while performing their duties. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
