Ambushed La Union board member bet dies

SAN FERNANDO, La Union, Philippines – An independent candidate for provincial board member in the second district of La Union who was shot in his office in Agoo, La Union on Monday morning died yesterday at the Lorma Medical Center (LMC) here due to severe wounds in the abdomen.

Chief Inspector Artemio Infante, Agoo police chief, told The STAR that lawyer Lazaro Gayo, 62, also a former vice mayor of Tubao town, died at around noontime while undergoing treatment. 

Gayo was in his law office when his assailant barged in and shot him several times in the back with a .45-caliber pistol.

He was first brought to the La Union Medical Center in Agoo town but was later transferred to LMC.

Police were looking into politics and job-related motives behind the killing.

The gunman escaped toward the north onboard a red motorcycle. Recovered from the crime scene were three empty .45-caliber shells. 

Gayo’s ambush happened barely a week after the killing of Rodolfo Estoque, a councilman of Barangay Leones West also in Tubao town, by motorcycle-riding men.

Superintendent Ramon Purugganan, La Union police director, and other law enforcement units have already declared Tubao and Agoo towns election hotspots or “areas of immediate concern.” Augmentation forces have been sent to the two towns. 

Tubao Mayor Dante Garcia condemned Gayo’s killing and other attacks in the municipality.

“Let the police conclude the investigation on these incidents. I don’t want these things happening with my innocent constituents,” said Garcia who himself survived an ambush recently.