TACURONG CITY (MindaNews/11 November) – Police are banking on the testimony of the lone survivor of an apparent case of summary execution in Tacurong City on Monday to provide clues to the incident that claimed the lives of four victims, two of them women.
Regine Ole Dalogdog of Barangay Apopong in General Santos City was recovered along with the bodies of the four fatalities in an outskirt village here.
Currently confined in an undisclosed hospital, Dalogdog, 34, was found lying on blood with gunshot wounds in the nape and back that exited through the chin and torso.
“She could hardly talk because the bullet hit her nape and exited in her chin, and can’t write either because of back wound that went through her chest. In due time, she will be the one who can tell the whole details, she is our main witness here,” according to Supt. Junnie Buenacosa, chief of Tacurong police.
Police found four people, two of them women, dead due to multiple gunshot wounds along with Dalogdog who was in critical condition in Purok Masagana, Barangay New Lagao Monday in what police authorities described as a possible case of summary execution.
Buenacosa identified the four fatalities as Manuel Juan Rafael Jr, 32, tricycle driver and a resident of Purok
Liwliwa, Barangay San Emmanuel in Tacurong; Felix Gamido Rodrigo, 34, driver and a resident of Apilado Subdivision, Poblacion in Tacurong; Rhea Macion Ramirez, 28, of Barangay Dadiangas West in General Santos City; and Joan Mamon, 26, of Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat.
The three women were listed in a police report as guest relation officers of a local videoke bar.
Police said the incident could be drug-related. Buenacosa said Dalogdog told investigators they were going to meet a person who was among the assailants to buy shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from him.
“Iiskor daw ng item,” Buenacosa said, referring to the slang for buying illegal drugs.
On Monday dawn, a group of farmers found Dalogdog and her dead companions on a rice field and reported the matter to the police station.
“The four victims were already dead due to multiple gunshot wounds by the time we arrived at the site,” Buenacosa said in a radio interview Monday.
The victims were reportedly on board a tricycle from Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat on Sunday when flagged down by six armed men on board motorcycles, and residents nearby later heard gunshots. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera/MindaNews)
