CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — A former Bukidnon town mayor was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assailants just a few meters away from the Hall of Justice along Masterson Ave. in Upper Carmen here Saturday morning, police said.
Police identified the victim as Joelito “Jukens” Talaid, former mayor of Kadingilan in Bukidnon.
Talaid was a real estate developer who owned a construction firm.
Police said he was driving his black Dodge Ram pickup truck when still unidentified gunmen fired at him.
In a statement Saturday afternoon, Mayor Oscar Moreno called the killing as “senseless” and “barbaric” as he urged the authorities to identify the gunmen and bring them to justice.
“I urged him (city police director) to ensure that this killing is solved immediately, with the identification and capture of the perpetrators and anyone behind them,” Moreno said.
Moreno, the Regional Peace and Order Council chairman, added, “Cruel and treacherous acts like this killing have no place whatsoever in any decent and peace-loving community, especially in special seasons like Christmas. I call upon anyone who may have any information about this tragic incident that may lead to its immediate solution to come forward.”
In 2013 when he was then a mayor, Talaid was hurt in an ambush while traveling in Don Carlos, Bukidnon. –PNA
