PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 12, 2014) – Police are investigating reports that gunmen were spotted on a village in Zamboanga del Sur’s Labangan town shortly before a mysterious fire gutted five houses there.
Police said the fire broke out in the village of Noburan and estimated the damage at around P2.5 million and that one of the houses was owned by a former mayor of the town, Kitty Nandang. The rest of the houses were owned by Remedios Surdilla, Jaime Lumusad, Mary Jean Banagan and Florencia Cotongan.
The fire allegedly started in the house of Surdilla and quickly spread to the neighborhood. Police said the fire could be a case of arson and that the gunmen were probably behind it.
The identities of the armed men were not immediately established. But another police report said Nandang’s caretaker, Victor Galgan, allegedly shot and wounded Joy Ponce, 25.
Police said Galgan barged into the house of Ponce and was looking for the woman’s husband and shot her when he did not find him there. Galgan fled after the shooting. It was unknown whether the attack was connected to the fire. (Mindanao Examiner)
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