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BY CYRUS GARDE
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Saturday. September 16, 2017
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BACOLOD City – An unidentified group of armed men shot to death a town councilor and two others at around 9 a.m. yesterday in Barangay Lopez Jaena, Murcia, Negros Occidental.
Salvador Benedicto councilor Eden Bacordo, 39, his live-in partner Leah Mae Saldua, 29, and the 32-year-old body guard Alfredo Larida were killed.
Initial investigation showed Bacordo encountered three of the gunmen on a road near his house.
The three fired at Bacordo repeatedly, chasing him while he was running back to his house, a police report showed.
Police said a total of seven men were responsible for the shooting.
Bacordo, Saldua and Larida died of multiple gunshot wounds on their bodies.
The gunmen – who wore bonnets – fled after the shooting.
Saldua was found on top of Bacordo in an attempt to cover the latter from the bullets, police said. The shirtless Larida, on the other hand, was found near the house.
Several empty shells of M16, M14 and Garand rifles were recovered from the crime scene.
Grudge may be the motive in the killing, according to Staff Sergeant Alfredo Isidro, commander of the 12th Infantry Battalion of the Lizares Detachment in Murcia.
Isidro and his men were on patrol duty from Hacienda Lacson and Hacienda Hilado and exited in the village on the same day.
Jinky Quiniano, Saldua’s aunt, said she saw the armed men while she was taking care of her child.
The New People’s Army admitted to the shooting.
Bacordo was the son of Vicente “Oti,” village chief of Barangay Bagong Silang, Salvador Benedicto.
Vicente was a former leader of an armed group in the hinterlands of northern Negros.
Panay News reached Vicente but said he has yet to give statements regarding the incident. He was at the crime scene as of this writing.
Barangay Lopez Jaena is surrounded by three army detachments: the Caliban, Lizares and Pandanon Silos.
Murcia municipal police station was still investigating./PN
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