The victim, who succumbed to two gunshot wounds at the back of his head and near his right armpit, was identified by the police as Danilo Dautil, 62, barangay chairman of Cabcab.
P/Capt. Joseph Partidas, Isabela police chief, said that Dautil was on his way home towards Barangay Cabcab proper on board his motorcycle, when he was waylaid and shot by the gunman.
Partidas said that Dautil was declared dead on arrival at the Ignacio Lopez Arroyo Sr. Memorial District Hospital in Isabela town.
An empty cartridge was recovered by responding Isabela town policemen, and 62nd Infantry Battalion soldiers at the scene of incident.
Dautil, according to Partidas, was a non-supporter of the New People’s Army. Brgy. Cabcab was recently declared cleared of rebel influence by the Local Task Force Ending Local Armed Communist Conflict.
In 2018, a former barangay chairman was also killed by suspected NPA rebels in the same area, two years after a municipal councilor was gunned down in the barangay, Partidas said.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, however, said they cannot say yet if the killing of Dautil was insurgency-related.
Brgy. Cabcab is a mountainous village and about 18 kilometers away from the Isabela town poblacion./GB
