BACOLOD CITY - A newly elected mayor of Pulupandan town in Negros Occidental and his nephew were wounded in an ambush yesterday afternoon by unidentified gunmen.
Mayor Magdaleno Peña and his nephew, Counselor Jeremy Suatengco, sustained injuries after armed men sprayed their green Ford Expedition with bullets in Barangay Zone 4, Pulupandan.
Peña’s driver Morin Merced and his bodyguard Boy Gabine were killed in the ambush while two other police escorts were injured in the incident.
Provincial police Superintendent Rosendo Franco has ordered the immediate setting up of checkpoints in Valladolid and Bago towns after the suspects fled.
Initial police report showed that witnesses saw eight suspects with high-powered guns aboard a Toyota Revo with no license plates at the site prior to the ambush.
Franco said they have yet to establish the motive of the ambush. The wounded are being treated at the Riverside Medical Center in this town.
Peña and his companions were on their way to Barangay Suay where Peña resides.
Peña took his oath of office last Monday at the provincial capitol building with Gov. Joseph Marañon as inducting officer.
Peña, a lawyer, was linked to actress Plinky Recto with whom he has a son. Peña gained controversy after a quarrel with Recto over the custody of their son and other issues.
He won the mayoralty post in Pulupandan despite driving out thousands of informal settlers on his property in Zone 4 a month before the May 14 polls. He ran against Samson Mondia, brother of incumbent Mayor Luis Mondia. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe