Lawyer, pastor gunned down in QC

The wife of a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official in charge of a crackdown on big time tax evaders, and a pastor were killed by four gunmen while coming out of a prayer meeting at a compound in Bago Bantay, Quezon City.

Lawyer Evelyn Gobilla, 47, wife of Arnel Gobilla chief of the BIR’s National Investigation Division, was walking in an alley at about 9 p.m. Wednesday when four men brandishing caliber .45 pistols appeared and started shooting her.

Joselito Fidel, a pastor of the Door of Faith born again Christian congregation on Lanao street in Barangay Sto. Cristo, was also hit when he tried to shield Gobilla from a hail of bullets.

"Yung abogada ang target. Nadamay lang ang pastor," said Virgilia Bacling, who works at the barangay hall.

Bacling, quoting reports from responding tanods said the pastor died on the spot from gunshot wounds in the head and chest while the lawyer was taken to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead upon arrival.

Quezon City Police District homicide detectives are still conducting an investigation to determine the motive.

A police source said the investigation is focusing on the sensitive post of the husband at the BIR.

"We looking at the BIR angle" the source said.

The BIR-NID is the lead unit in the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program of the bureau. — Perseus Echeminada