Bulacan female councilor wounded in gun attack

HAGONOY, Bulacan, Philippines – A 32-year-old former beauty queen turned municipal councilor here survived an attempt on her life on Tuesday night in Paombong town. 

Police investigators though were still clueless on the attack on Francis Dianne Cervantes, who is on her third term as councilor. She won the Miss Earth Philippines-Fire title in 2006. 

Citing reports reaching his office, Senior Superintendent Joel Orduna, Bulacan police director, said Cervantes was on her way to her family’s residence in Long Valley Subdivision in Paombong on board a motorcycle with a female companion when she was shot in the head at around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Superintendent Gerardo Andaya, Hagonoy police chief, said the assailants were also on board a motorcycle.

Andaya said residents heard six shots, although investigators recovered only three slugs from a .45-caliber pistol at the crime scene.

Andaya, who was among those who first arrived at the crime scene, said Cervantes and her companion who was driving the motorcycle pretended to be dead but the gunmen fired more shots apparently to finish off the councilor.

Cervantes was rushed to the Divine Word Hospital here for first aid treatment and transferred to the Bulacan Medical Center. She was later brought to a hospital in Manila.

Vice Mayor Pedro Santos told The STAR in a telephone interview that Cervantes suffered at least three bullet wounds in the neck, head and back.

Despite the bullet wound in her head, Cervantes was conscious when she was rushed to the Divine Word Hospital, Santos said. 

Chief Inspector Sherwin Tadeo, Paombong police chief, declined to reveal the identity of Cervantes’ companion, saying she is the primary witness in the attack.