THE killings of barangay tanods (village watchmen) in Negros Occidental have alarmed provincial officials.
Second district Board Member Salvador Escalante Jr. said that four or five tanods in the province were targeted.
Escalante joined Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. at the Provincial Capitol on December 19 for the distribution of insurance claims and benefits worth P1.219 million to the families of barangay officials who passed away. This is part of the Capitol’s Barangay Insurance Program.
Escalante said the Provincial Government allocated about P5 million this year for the program, and the funds were released every quarter.
Each family received P100,000 for “accidental” death and P50,000 for natural death.
Escalante, however, expressed alarm that four or five of these barangay tanods were killed.
“The governor and I were talking. There are four or five of them who were killed due to assault, accident, and shooting. This is very alarming,” he said.
The board member noted that they were “purposely killed,” and it’s not normal because they volunteer for the job for a small salary.
He said a tanod is a representative of the barangay.
“They’re the first ones we call if there’s a problem,” the board member said. “We should do something about it...we should look into this.”