First election casualty: Surigao Norte councilor bet shot dead


SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews / 11 Jan) – A retired police official running as councilor in the municipality of Tagana-an in Surigao del Norte was shot dead by riding-in-tandem suspects Monday morning, apparently becoming Mindanao’s first casualty since the election period officially started Sunday.

Authorities identified the victim as Danrevel Tuldanes Etac, 62, a retired policeman and former councilor of the said town.

He was driving his motorcycle on his way home to Tagana-an when the two suspects tailed him and shot him several times along the national highway in Barangay San Isidro in Placer, an adjacent town, police said.

SPO2 Alan Yap Badajos, of the Placer police office, said Etac was shot six times by unidentified suspects using a caliber .45 pistol, but only four hit him in the different parts of the body, causing his instantaneous death.

Badajos said the suspects fled towards the neighboring Sison municipality.

The victim was brought to the Surigao del Norte Provincial Hospital but the attending physician said Etac was already dead by the time his body reached the hospital.

Though police could not yet determine if the killing had something to do with politics, Tagana-an has always been an election hotspot.
