SMI radio operator shot dead in Tampakan, S. Cotabato

KORONADAL CITY -- Armed men believed to be bandits operating in the hinterland borders of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur shot dead a radio operator of a mining firm they chanced upon as they passed by a remote village Thursday morning, police said.Senior Supt. Franklin Alvero, South Cotabato police director, identified the victim as Henry Bisaya, 45 and resident of Tupi, South Cotabato. He works as communications operator of Saguittarius Mines Incorporated.He has been staying in the company's bunkhouse and seldom goes home to Tupi.Initial police investigation showed Bisaya was fetching water in a deep well when undetermined number of armed men passing the village of Tablu, Tampakan shot him.Senior Inspector Hardimont Sibal, Tampakan town police chief, said investigation was still on going and that nobody owned upin killing Bisaya.Communist New Peoples Army are operating in the hinterlands of Tampakan and often blamed by authorities in previous harassment against the mining firm.