BUTUAN CITY – The Police Regional Office in the Caraga Region (PRO-13) has ordered an in-depth investigation into the killing of a village chief in Claver town, Surigao del Norte on Friday.
Barangay Panatao chairperson Godofredo Cagasan was gunned down Friday morning in his village by still unidentified assailants.
“Brig. Gen. John Kirby Kraft, the director of PRO-13 already called the SDNPPO (Surigao del Norte Provincial Police Office) this morning with instructions to look deeper into this incident,” Maj. Jennifer Ometer, PRO-13 information officer, said in a phone interview.
She said the killing of Cagasan is the first case in the region involving a barangay official occurring two months before the conduct of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
However, Ometer made it clear political motive is only one of several angles the police are looking into in the ongoing investigation.
PRO-13 has earlier called on gun owners with lapsed registration to surrender their firearms as part of the campaign to ensure the safety of the conduct of BSKE in October this year
As of July 31, records from PRO-13 indicated that only 2,813 of the 6,381 firearms with expired registration are accounted for in the region. (PNA)
