4 farmers killed in South Cotabato gun attack

COTABATO CITY — Four farmers who were drinking in Barangay Dumadalig in Tantangan, South Cotabato were killed, while another was wounded in an attack by men armed with M16 assault rifles at almost Sunday midnight.

In separate reports released early Monday, the Tantangan Municipal Police Station and the South Cotabato Provincial Police Office stated that Jerry Tabamo Yuarata, Ronald Orin Vallespin, Argie Villas Villorente and Marcelo Barnachea Combiz all died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

The incident left another farmer, Freddie Reyes Tabamo, badly wounded. He is now confined in a hospital.

Officials of the Tantangan police force and local executives, among them members of the Tantangan multi-sector Municipal Peace and Order Council, told reporters that the victims were drinking liquor together in Purok 5 Luayon in Barangay Dumadalig when their attackers, brandishing M16 assault rifles, arrived and opened fire.

The gunmen hurriedly escaped, according to witnesses.

Barangay tanods and villagers in houses around scampered away when gunshot reverberated through the scene, apparently scared that they could be harmed too if they intervened.