ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 4, 2014) – Police are investigating the killings of two brothers – a lawyer and a customs man – who were in Sulu province in southern Philippines to bury their dead sister.
Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, the provincial police chief, said Mac Issan, an employee of the Bureau of Customs; and lawyer Sawadaan Issan, were both killed in the town of Indanan.
Orbita said unidentified men approached the two brothers and talked to them and shot the victims afterwards.
“Initial investigation showed that victims went to the area purposely to bury the remains of their sister. The suspects approached and talked to them, thereafter, shot the brothers,” Orbita told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
It was unknown whether the killings were connected to family feud or related to the brothers’ jobs. “We are still investigating the case. The case is being handled by the municipal police,” Orbita said.
There was no immediate statement either from the victims’ families or town officials about the killings and no individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Just recently, motorcycle gunmen also ambushed Judge Reynerio Estacio in a daring broad daylight attack in Zamboanga City.
Estacio, executive judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 14, handled mostly criminal cases – from murders to drugs to politics, among others—and was even cited by the government for his convictions of human traffickers.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines condemned the killing of Estacio. Gun attacks are not uncommon in Zamboanga where hired killers are actively operating. (Mindanao Examiner)
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