PUDTOL, Apayao – Three residents died in a
massacre here when they were shot to death July 21, their bodies burned along
with the house where they were murdered, but one survived to tell the gory
tale.
Senior Supt.
Albertlito Garcia, Apayao, police director said the shooting incident happened
in Sitio Magabobong, Upper Maton, Pudtol.
He identified the
victims as Felix B. Matulot, 75; Jayson G. Acob, 29; Rogelio I. Rupad, 39
and Elevencio Matulot y Pagtan, 44, the lone survivor, all farmers and
residents of Lower Maton, Pudtol.
The nine alleged
murderers were identified as DionisioBatalao Bernal, TubbanLuban, Beltran Francisco, DivinaDandan, Gerald Daluguis, Marcelo
Luban, Alex Luban, Bryan Bernal and Charlie Igwad, all residents of
Kabugao town.
Prior to the killing,
the victims reportedly went to visit their old house in Upper Maton, on July
19.
The following day,
they discovered that their “Lapat” (no fishing area) was allegedly “violated”
by the suspects.
Police said it is a
tribal custom that lapats should not be trespassed upon by anybody without
consent of the owner.
On July 21, the
suspects went to the house of the victims where a heated argument ensued with
the suspects that resulted in the killing of the victims.
The lone survivor who
was then at the river and about to return to the house was suddenly fired upon
by one of the suspects prompting him to run for his safety and while escaping,
he heard three successive gun shots coming from their house.
He went to his
mother’s house in Waga, Kabugao, and the following day and used a motorized
boat to report the incident to Pudtol police.
Early morning of July
22, police with relatives of the victims went to the crime scene and arrived at
about 2 p.m. where they found the house was already burned together with
cadavers of the victims.
The victims were
positively identified by the relatives base on their remains and recovered
several fired bullets of shotgun.
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