MANILA, Philippines — Another local government unit executive was gunned down this time in Mindanao on Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks on local officials.
Sapa-Sapa, Tawi-Tawi Vice Mayor Al Rashid Mohammad Alih was shot dead by two motorcycle-riding men as he was leaving a mall in Zamboanga City.
According to a report by DZMM radio, the vice mayor was shot twice in the chest in Governor Alvarez, Zamboanga City at past 5 this afternoon.
Alih is the second vice mayor to be killed in the past five days.
On Saturday, Vice Mayor Alex Lubigan, 44, of Trece Martires City, Cavite, and his aide were killed by an unidentified gunman while on their way home along the Trece Martires-Indang road in Luciano village.
Lubigan suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died on the scene. His aide meanwhile died in the hospital where he was rushed.
Just last week, two mayors from two provinces were killed in two separate attacks in just a span of more than 24 hours.
On July 2, Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili was gunned down during flag-raising rites at the city hall's parking lot.
Halili became controversial in 2016 after he made drug suspects walk through his city's streets wearing shirts or cardboards which read that they should not be emulated because they were drug peddlers.
The following day, General Tinio, Nueva Ecija Mayor Ferdinand Bote, 57, was killed in a street attack just as he was leaving a government office compound.
Despite this uptick in attacks on local officials, the government said there is no climate of violence and impunity prevailing in the country.