By Rosa I . Tiempo

Calbayog City - On one chilly morning of Thursday last week , two men riding a motorcycle leading to the national highway were ambushed by unidentified armed men positioned at a bushy portion of the road , spraying them with bullets and leaving them lifeless , their faces beyond recognition .

The victims were the barangay captain Roberto Habiles , Jr . of Dinagan , Oquendo District , this city , and a farmer named Novito Ygbuhay . They were found lying in pools of their own blood a few kilometres away from the city ’ s Sanitary Landfill .

The Scene of the Crime Operatives ( SOCO ) later found a piece of white paper with a written statement : “ OPLAN TUKLAW : WAG TULARAN KAP ADIK AT TULAK NG DRUGA . UDGS-

EV8 .” The manner of killing was like that of the Victory Massacre and previous incidents , said a reliable source .

Also found were a quantity of empty shells of calibre 5.56 rifle , 9mm and . 45 firearms . The incident was said to be in retaliation to the murder of two political leaders two days earlier . Sources are saying the recent victims are just “ collateral damage ”

in the continuing political murders happening in this part of the island .

Two days before the ambush , Janelle Belleza and Alex Regulacion were killed at close range by two armed men seated behind them on the same passenger bus they were riding . The shooting happened when the bus was about to stop at the national highway in Brgy . Sta . Cruz ,

Tarangnan to check for a tire inspection .

After shooting , the suspects identified themselves as NPAs and fled in motorcycles going back to Calbayog . The police was able to recover a . 45 caliber pistol from Belleza .

Reports said that the vehicle of a PAG leader Arnold Belleza was spotted entering the compound of a village chief of a certain barangay in Oquendo district . The place

is adjacent to Brgy . Dinagan by crossing the Hibatang River . The suspects might have been cuddled by the village chief the day before the actual incident and on their exit after executing the crime .

In hot pursuit

CAGASMAS ( Calbayog- Gandara-Sta . Margarita- Matuguinao-San Jorge ) Task

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