Abra town councilor wanted haircut, shot dead instead

A supposed trip to a barber shop proved fatal for a town councilor when motorcycle-riding men shot him dead in the northern Philippine province of Abra, barely three weeks before the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) elections on October 25. Superintendent Johnny Bacbac, a public information officer from the Abra provincial police, identified the victim as Arnulfo Callos, a member of the Sangguniang Bayan (municipal council) in San Isidro town. An initial investigation showed that the victim was on his way to a barber shop when his attackers struck along Taft Street, Zone 2 in the capital town of Bangued at around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. Callos was visiting Bangued earlier in the day, but his wife and child who were with him had gone out for different engagements. "Paparada na iyong biktima sa gilid ng sidewalk nang biglang may bumaril sa kanya, natumba, ayun namatay," Bacbac said. (He was about to park on the sidewalk’s edge when he was shot. He fell and died right there.) The police official said Callos was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital in the provincial capital. Police could not immediately tell how many gunshot wounds the victims sustained, pending an autopsy. Recovered from the crime scene was an empty shell of a 45-caliber pistol. Police checkpoints were set up following the shooting, even as a special investigating team has been activated to probe the incident. Asked if the shooting was election-related, Bacbac said the assailants' motives are yet unknown. It was not immediately clear if the victim was running for any barangay post. In September, the police and military jointly reactivated a task force expected to prevent violence during the upcoming grassroots elections on October 25.—Mark D. Merueñas/JV, GMANews.TV