Ilocos municipal assessor shot

LAOAG CITY,Philippines – The municipal assessor of Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte was shot and wounded last Friday afternoon in yet another violent incident in the province.

Senior Inspector Dexter Corpuz, Pagudpud police chief, said assessor Reynold Galat, an engineer by training, was attacked by motorcycle-riding gunmen in front of the town’s Peoples Center.

Galat, who was reportedly heading home from work, was hit in one arm and right side of the abdomen.

Probers found a slug and an empty shell from a caliber .45 pistol at the crime scene.

Galat said he could identify his attackers, as they did not cover their faces.

Pagudpud Mayor Maja Sales, herself a victim of a foiled assassination plot last year, offered P50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Galat’s attackers.

Earlier, a provincial official disclosed that a “hit” in Ilocos Norte by guns-for-hire is paid a measly P5,000.

The rash of shootings in the province, including the recent killing of a trial court judge in Currimao town, prompted officials to form a task force to combat violent incidents. 

Despite the move, the shootings and killings continued, prompting critics to bewail what they said was the police’s inefficiency to respond to gun-related violence.