Village chair stabbed dead, wife hurt in N. Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A village chairman and head of an organization of villages was killed and his wife seriously injured when unidentified assailants stabbed them in their home in Alameda, North Cotabato early Monday, police said.

Senior Police Officer 4 Samson Pacete, Alamada police station chief, said victim as Joseph Allan Vallos, village chair of Poblacion Alamada and president of the Association of Barangay (village) Chairmen succumbed to four stab wounds.

Pacete said two men sneaked into the house of Vallos and one of them stabbed Vallos’s wife, Arlyn, who woke up to go to the bathroom at 1 a.m.

Vallos was awakened and rushed to his wife’s rescue but was instead attacked by the assailants.

Vallos died while being treated at a hospital in nearby Midsayap town. His wife is in critical condition.

Pacete said initial investigation showed the motive behind the attack was robbery because the family owns a drug store and a variety store.

Pacete however was “not discounting the attack was work-related,” adding that the victim had no known enemy and had not received death threats.

Three persons, their identities withheld, were invited for questioning. (report from Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao)