- COTABATO, Philippines: A Philippine army commander says gunmen have shot to death an entire family of five in the country’s volatile south, apparently over a land dispute.
Army Brig. Gen. Rey Ardo says Jolie Fegurac, his wife and three children were asleep when several men armed with assault rifles peppered their house with gunfire early Saturday in a remote village in Sultan Kudarat province.
Ardo said Sunday that Fegurac had an argument with a rival family over a long-standing land feud a few days before the attack.
Army troops are hunting down the attackers, who were led by a notorious bandit.
Violent family rivalries, fueled by weak law enforcement and many unlicensed weapons, are prevalent in the southern Philippines.
