Cavite barangay chairman gunned down
CAMP GEN. PANTALEON GARCIA, IMUS, Cavite--A barangay chairman was killed Tuesday night while four others were wounded in a shooting attack at a basketball court in upland Silang municipality, police reported Wednesday.
Naldie Neri Secretario, 46, was declared dead at Asia Medic Hospital in Silang.
Secretario was chairman of Barangay Yakal, Silang. His attackers, two still unidentified men armed with .45 cal. and .9mm pistols, rode away on a motorcycle.
Chief Inspector Resty E. Soriano, Silang police chief, said he was looking into two motives---vengeance and alleged drug links of Secretario and some other barangay officers in the village.
Soriano identified the injured as Pedecio Mabaya Vidal, 60, Lourdes Pitao Bernardino, 53, Anita Barrosa Alcober, 57, all residents of Barangay Yakal; and Dairuz Samonte Bacnotan, 13, of Barangay Bulihan, also in Silang.
Vidal was confined at De La Salle University Medical Center in Dasmarinas City for body bullet wound operation. The three other victims sustained minor injuries and were brought to General Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital in Trece Martires City.
Soriano said that two men shot Secretario several times as he was attending a barangay activity at the covered court in Yakal Village.
The other victims were hit by stray bullets. The other people scampered during the burst of gunfire.
Chief Inspector Amer C. Magsumbol and the Scene of the Crime Operative (SoCO) team recovered at the site 13 shells for .45 cal. and .9mm pistols, two live bullets and three slugs and an olive green holster.
Soriano said Secretario was validated to have been involved in illegal drugs even before the last barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
The attack may also be linked with the apprehension by barangay men of Eric Saksak, said to be a courier for a drug supplier, Lito Bayacal, who operates in Barangay Paliparan, Dasmariñas City and Bulihan, Silang.
Homicide investigators were looking at closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage and compiling witnesses’ accounts.
Secretario was the fifth barangay chairman killed by in Cavite in the last 15 months. Two barangay kagawads were also reported killed in shooting incidents in the province during the period.