Pagsanjan councilor gunned down

LAGUNA ,Philippines  – A municipal councilor of Pagsanjan town in this province was gunned down while a colleague was wounded after a lone assailant fired at them inside the barangay hall in Barangay Calasauche Saturday afternoon, police said yesterday.

Laguna provincial director Senior Superintendent Gilbert Cruz has created a team to conduct a marathon investigation on the killing of Ronnie Sablan, a municipal councilor of Pagsanjan town.

Sablan died from two gunshot wounds while his friend Rufino Abuan was hit once in the left shoulder and is recuperating in the provincial hospital. Another barangay councilor, Antonio Oliveros, escaped unhurt.

Cruz said investigators have yet to establish the motive and the identity of the gunman, but the police was looking at the possibility that the assassination was work-related.

Sablan, Abuan and Oliveros were playing cards when the attack occurred at around 3 p.m.

The gunman, clad in black helmet and blue jacket, immediately boarded a blue motorbike with no license plate and sped off towards Barangay Sampalukan after the shooting. The driver of the motorbike according to the police, acted as a lookout.

Police recovered a number of bullets in the crime scene and was brought to crime lab for cross matching.