Batangas vice mayor shot, bodyguard killed

BATANGAS , Philippines – Talisay town Vice Mayor Florencio Manimtim is in critical condition while one of his bodyguards was killed and another was wounded when unidentified gunmen shot them while inside the Talisay cemetery yesterday morning, police said.

Superintendent Arcadio Ronquillo, Batangas Public Information Officer, said Ma­nimtim was attending his father’s burial together with his relatives and friends at the Talisay Municipal Cemetery at Barangay Poblacion when they were shot.

Ronquillo identified the slain bodyguard as Guillermo Macaraig, 57, of Barangay Cale, Tanauan City. Wounded was Joel Caringal, 32, of Barangay Sampaloc in Talisay town, and is now being treated at the St. Andrew Hospital in Talisay.

Investigations showed that two suspects, one wearing a long sleeved polo shirt and another wearing yellow polo shirt, approached Manimtim from behind and shot him in the head around 11:30 a.m.

The local official sustained a bullet wound on his head that pierced through his face. He is now in critical condition at Mercado Hospital in Tanauan City.

Subsequently, the suspects fired at Macaraig and Caringal who were both standing near Manimtim using .45 cali­ber pistols. Macaraig died on the spot while Caringal sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

“Nobody noticed because it seemed that the shooting was simultaneous with the 21-gun salute,” one of the witnesses said.

Manimtim’s father, Florencio Sr. was a retired Philippine Air Force official and was granted full mili­tary honors during his internment.

Witnesses said the gunmen hurriedly escaped on board a motorcycle that fled toward Tanauan City.

A three-term Talisay mayor, Manimtim won the vice ma­yoralty race in the just concluded May 10, local elections against his closest rival Jerry Natanauan by merely three votes.

Natanauan filed an election protest against Manimtim, which is presently being heard at the Tanauan regionl trial court.

Police are now conducting follow up operations to arrest the assailants while trying to determine the motive of the shooting.