By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A farmer was declared dead on the spot after he was gunned down by unidentified men at Sitio Ampara, Barangay Mabini, Escalante City, yesterday morning.
Police identified the fatality as Rolando Mahilum, a resident of the said barangay.
Escalante City police said the victim left his house around 4:30 a.m. to tend to his rice fields when he was attacked by the gunmen with a .45 caliber firearm.
Cops recovered four empty .45 caliber shells at the crime scene.
The initial autopsy revealed the victim succumbed to a gunshot wound to the head.
Escalante City police are still probing the identities of the suspects, as well as the motive behind the shooting./WDJ