La Union village chief gunned down

NAGUILIAN, La Union , Philippines  – The chairman of Barangay Bariquir this town was gunned down by two bonnet-wearing suspects Sunday at around 5 p.m. while pasturing his cow at a rice field along the boundary of Barangays Bato and Bariquir.

The killing of chairman Froilan Florendo, 75, happened exactly one month after the shooting to death of his number one councilor Franklin Bambico on Dec. 23.

Florendo sustained two gunshot wounds on his face and one gunshot each on his chest and left armpit. 

Investigators recovered four empty shells and two slugs of .45 caliber at the crime scene. 

Mayor Reynaldo Flores strongly condemned the killing and disclosed to The STAR that both Florendo and Bambico are among his witnesses against an election protest.

“He (Florendo) has no known enemies. He is a good leader and father. This incident is politically motivated because he is one of my witnesses against an election protest,” Flores said.

La Union police director Senior Superintendent Ramon Purugganan said they are still gathering information and finding out all angles as to the motive of the incident and the identities of the suspects.

Purugganan sent augmentation force in Naguilian yesterday to help secure the municipality because three other barangay councilors of Bariquir revealed to authorities that they also received death threats.

Purugganan said that aside from the Florendo and Bambico cases, they are now trying to identify those alleged brains and perpetrators of other shooting incidents in the past that involves barangay officials and political leaders.