GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 15 November) — Unidentified gunmen killed a barangay councilor who was named in the government’s 2016 “narco-list” in a daring gun attack in Polomolok town on Thursday.
Polomolok Mayor Honey Lumayag-Matti said barangay councilor Vicente Yungco Jr., 47, was driving his white Isuzu Crosswind along Dahlia Street in Barangay Poblacion at around 1 p.m. when he was waylaid by two motorcycle-riding suspects.
“He was with his wife and youngest son when he was shot,” she said in an interview over Brigada News FM in Koronadal City.
She said the Yungcos had just left their house in Purok Malinawon, Barangay Poblacion when ambushed.
An initial report from the Polomolok municipal police station said Yungco’s wife and son were unharmed.
Yungco sustained multiple gunshot wounds on the head and body and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Howard Hubbard Memorial Hospital.
He served as barangay chair of Poblacion for two terms and was elected president of the Liga ng mga Barangay of Polomolok and South Cotabato province.
He represented the barangay councils in the South Cotabato provincial board until June last year.
Yungco was arrested by operatives of the PRO-12’s anti-illegal drugs special operations task group (RAIDSOTG) during a raid at his house on Oct. 13, 2016 for possession of a 9mm pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun.
No illegal drugs were found at the scene during the operation while the recovered firearms turned out to have been issued by the provincial government.
Lt. Col. Maximo Sebastian, then the RAIDSOTG-12 chief, said Yungco was included in their list of narco-politicians and allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade as “protector.”
It is not clear if Yungco had been cleared after the 2016 raid. But he ran for a seat in the municipal council of Polomolok under the PDP-Laban slate of Mayor Matti in the May elections, landing 9th in an eight-seat council. PDP-Laban is the party of President Rodrigo Duterte. (MindaNews)