Brgy councilwoman shot dead in ambush, her husband hurt

Mayor to put up P100T reward for killer’s ID

Four unidentified men, in an ambush Sunday afternoon, shot dead a councilwoman of Barangay El Progreso in Carmen, Bohol and wounded her husband, who is now being treated in a hospital in Tagbilaran City.

The couple, Councilwoman Rufa Sugala, 37, and husband Arturo, 45, were riding on a motorcycle from their house at Purok 5 on their way to Purok 4 to attend an official meeting when the four men, wearing bonnets, blocked their way and fired shots at them.

Mayor Ricardo Francisco Toribio, of Carmen town, said he is planning to put up a P100,000 cash reward for any information leading to the whereabouts and identities of the assailants.

Municipal Administrator Eliezer Cagol confirmed to The FREEMAN about the mayor’s plan that could give justice to the victims and bring the killers to jail. The notice of reward may be published in a daily newspaper in Bohol.

Based on Sugala daughter’s account, in an interview over DyTR radio, the wounded victims, when blocked and shot at by the assailants, tried to run away but Rufa fell behind after she hit a stone. The triggerman then pumped more bullets to her head, and she died on the spot.

The local police are still facing a blank wall as to the motive of the killing but the daughter said that it might be that her parents were thought to be the ones who reported to authorities about illegal drugs being sold in the barangays.

Chief Superintendent Jose Mario Espino, Police Regional Office-7 regional director, however said the killing “has nothing to do with illegal drugs,” and initial investigation showed the motive may point out to personal grudge.

Espino said initial reports disclosed that the victims were accused of masterminding the death of a certain Adrian Virtudazo, leading to an act of revenge.

Chief Inspector Rully Lauron, chief of the Carmen Police Station, clarified that Virtudazo was a known gun-for-hire in Dagohoy, Bohol, and was notorious for stealing livestock.

Lauron said the Sugala couple once caught Virtudazo in the act of stealing and was later tagged as mastermind behind the suspect’s death sometime in July 29, allegedly upon the insistence of a certain Neosinia, who the police surmised could be among the four assailants of the couple on Sunday.

The Carmen Police Station operatives are now conducting hot pursuit operations against three other men while the surviving victim Arturo is now recuperating in the hospital.