Reds Suspected in Daraga Councilman Slay

DARAGA, ALBAY (Oct 13) - COMMUNIST REBELS were suspected of being responsible for the slaying of a barangay councilor in Nabasan, Daraga, Albay at about 2:00 A.M on Monday (Oct.11) and the shooting at close range of the village official's wife, nephew, and his 19 years-old daughter while the latter were asleep.

Army's 2^nd Infantry Batallion commander, Lt. Col. John Oberio, who has jurisdiction over Albay province, identified in an army report the fatalities, as Nabasan councilor Wenifredo Lotino, 45; Lotino's wife Evelyn, 45; nephew, Anjo Martos, 20; and teenage daughter Jenny Lotino, who sustained gunshot wounds during the shooting incident.

Oberio reported that assailants used Cal. 45 pistols to shoot the victims, with six bullets being fired on the sleeping victims.

Reportedly, Lotino's teenage daughter, survived the shooting by  pretending to be dead at the presence of the suspects.

Meanwhile earlier on Sunday evening, it was reported that rebels simultaneously harassed the army detachments in Oas, Camalig and Daraga, Albay, shortly before 9:00 P.M.

At the army detachment in barangay San Ramon, Daraga, suspected rebels fired at soldiers indiscriminately at about 8:55 P.M.

Military officers believed that the shooting incidents were diversionary tactics, but the main motive was killing Lotino who was allegedly accused by rebels as a military informant. (SONNY SALES)