Tumandok massacre: Village chief of indigenous community in Tapaz, Capiz shot dead
ILOILO CITY –– Motorcycle-riding gunmen shot dead a village chief of an indigenous people’s community in Tapaz town in Capiz on Sunday, two months after nine tribal leaders were gunned down in a police operation.
Julie Catamin, village chief of Roosevelt, died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Catamin, 49, was driving a motorcycle on [her] way home around 8:45 a.m. when two assailants wearing helmets on board a black motorcycle repeatedly fired at [her] at Barangay Malitbog Centro, according to an initial report of the Calinog police station.
The police launched pursuit operations against the gunmen who fled towards the town proper.
Investigators are still determining the identity of the assailants and the motive for the attack. They recovered four .45-caliber empty shells at the crime scene.
Pamanggas, a farmers federation in Panay decried the attack on Catamin accusing state forces of being behind the attack.
“(Catamin’s killing) is meant to silence [her] and sow fear among residents to stop them from telling the truth on the killing of nine Tumandok (indigenous people’s group) leaders and the arrest of 16 others,” according to a statement in Filipino.
In a post on [her] Facebook page on Dec. 30, Catamin accused policemen, who arrested four residents of [her] village, of planting firearms and explosives.
News courtesy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Read more: