BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
An alleged drug personality was shot and killed by a gunman on a motorcycle at Rizal Street in Brgy. 1 poblacion, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, Saturday night.
Investigations of the Himamaylan police showed that the victim, identified as Vicente Gayongala, alias Dako, was on his way home with his sister and niece, on board a tricycle, when he was shot by an unidentified gunman riding a motorcycle, P/Maj. Romeo Vargas, Himamaylan City police chief, said yesterday.
Gayongala, who ranked third in their priority list of drug personalities, was hit twice in the chest and died at a hospital in Bacolod City, Vargas also said.
He recalled that Gayongala had surrendered to the police at the height of the Oplang Tokhang campaign in 2016.
But Vargas said they monitored that Gayongala had resumed his drug peddling activities in 2018.
The three deformed fired cartridges of a .45 caliber pistol recovered at the crime scene were turned over to the PNP Crime Laboratory for ballistic examination, and comparison with evidences recovered from shooting incidents in Himamaylan City.
Vargas said they are entertaining the possibility that the shooting incident is drug-related.
Meanwhile, a pedicab driver, identified as Joselito Omelda, was found dead in Sitio Cabungahan, Brgy. Rizal, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, on Feb. 5.
Omelda, 42, succumbed to gunshot wounds in his face, the police said. Initial investigations of the San Carlos police showed that the victim was on his way home, when he was waylaid and killed by still unidentified suspect/s.*
