School principal shot dead in Kidapawan

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines – Suspected hired killers shot dead a school principal just after classes on Friday, police said.

A preliminary police report said Felipe Ternio Sr., principal of Nuangan Elementary School, was on his way home in Barangay Nuangan in this city at around 4 p.m. when he was ambushed.

Inspector Benjamin Mauricio, deputy chief of the Kidapawan City police, said the victim suffered four gunshot wounds on his head.

One of the witnesses identified as Marvin Digao, a teacher in the same school, told investigators that minutes before the shooting, the victim saw a black TS motorcycle parked just few meters away from the school.

Digao, in a radio interview, said that he accompanied Ternio in finding out the plate number of the motorcycle.

“The vehicle has no plate number. It made sir Ternio feel nervous," said Digao.

Digao said that while they were on their way home after the flag retreat, the victim informed him that he had seen a number of suspicious looking men near the school for so many times.

“He, however, did not tell me why," he stressed.

The teacher recounted that when Ternio was shot twice on his head, he managed to run toward the rubber farm owned by the Sandique family, just a few meters away from a Catholic chapel.

“But the suspects ran after him and shot him again twice on his head. When they saw they had already neutralized their target they sped away using the motorcycle, which we saw earlier," Digao said in an interview.

Police are still looking at personal angle as the motive behind. - GMANews.TV