Hired guns eyed in GenSan slays

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines – A gun-for-hire syndicate may be behind the series of killings in nearby General Santos City, authorities suspect.

The latest shooting victim was a 44-year-old barangay councilman, Loreto Gawan of San Jose village.

Gawan, a claimant of a vast industrial land in General Santos, was driving his car along the national highway when motorcycle-riding men shot him with a .45-caliber pistol.

Police said Gawan was shot in the neck, killing him on the spot.

Chief Inspector Reynaldo Denila, spokesman of the General Santos police, said those behind Gawan’s killing may belong to the same gun-for-hire group which fired at another land claimant, Anna Paglangan, and three companions in front of a coffee shop in the city last week.

Paglangan and her three companions are still confined in one of the city’s hospitals due to bullet wounds.

Two weeks ago, a balut vendor was also shot dead reportedly by motorcycle-riding men. Days later, another land claimant was attacked, too.

Denila allayed the public’s apprehension, saying they have already identified the group responsible in the series of shootings and are now doing something to neutralize it.