Teacher killed in North Cotabato

A HEAD teacher was killed while a co-teacher who was driving the motorcycle they were riding was rushed to the hospital after gunmen fired at them on Friday in Pikit, North Cotabato.

Police identified the victim as Joel Reformado, 36, head teacher at Damalasak Elementary School and a resident of Poblacion village, Pikit. He succumbed to several gunshot wounds in different parts of the body.

Elton John Lapinid, 37, a teacher of the Mapagkaya Elementary School, who was driving the motorcycle, also suffered gunshot wounds but survived the attack. He was rushed to a downtown hospital and immediately went under the knife.

LtCol. John Calinga, chief of Police of Pikit, said that when Reformado and Lapinid were passing in front of Manaulanan Elementary School from Silik village going to the poblacion area, two armed suspects appeared and opened fire at them.

Joint police and Army troops are conducting follow-up operations and investigations.

Recently, unidentified gunmen also shot two students, ages 13 and 15, just outside a school compound in Pikit.

That incident brought fear among the students, most of whom were afraid to go back to school. Local school officials also reported to Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte that the shooting of the two students resulted in a 65-percent dropout rate in the public school system.

Duterte then instructed local authorities to implement the alternative delivery mode or remote learning instructions for children who have been traumatized and refused to go to school.