ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/26 July) – A small-scale miner was killed while two others were wounded in a shooting incident allegedly involving a security guard of a foreign mining company in Zamboanga del Sur on Wednesday, military and police officials said.
Capt. Albert Caber, spokesman of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, identified the fatality as Wilbert Catampungan, who was declared dead on arrival at the Bayog Medical Clinic.
Wounded were Roroy Dalangon, 20, and Jomar Tumales, 19, Caber said.
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The cause of the incident was not immediately clear.
It took place at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Purok 7, Sitio Balabag, Barangay Depore, Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur.
Caber said the Bayog police are still conducting a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the incident.
Supt. Diomarie Albarico, Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Public Safety Battalion commander, said the victims were hit after “burst of gun fires were heard coming from the direction of a TVIRD blue guard outpost.”
He was referring to Canadian mining firm TVI Resource Development, Inc., which is conducting exploration activities for its gold and silver project in the area.
Albarico did not say what preceded the incident except that responding policemen from the 2nd company of the 9th Regional Public Safety Battalion have recovered Catampungan and rushed the victim to the Bayog Medical Clinic.
Caber said that a lawyer of TVIRD identified only as a certain Atty. Estaño turned over Godofredo Jungoy, Jr. and a caliber .45 pistol to the police in Bayog town at around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Jungoy was turned over to the police since he was the suspect in the shooting incident, Caber said. (MIidanews)
