Negros councilor gunned down

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —  A councilor of Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men in Barangay Poblacion yesterday.

Paulo Edison dela Rita was driving his motorcycle when he was shot 300 meters away from the Guihulngan police station at around 7:30 a.m. He was pronounced dead on arrival in a hospital.

Authorities are looking into reports that the gunmen are members of a special unit of the New People’s Army.

The NPA’s Leonardo Panaligan Command said it was involved in the killing of Dela Rita’s bodyguard, Ramon Perez, in Barangay Banwage last week.

Communist guerrillas also admitted their involvement in last month’s killing of a rebel returnee and three other civilians they accused of being military informants.

In July last year, six police officers including Chief Superintendent Arnel Arpon, Guihulngan police chief, were killed in an ambush staged by NPA rebels, which also targeted Dela Rita.

The councilor also survived a gun attack in Barangay Balugo in 2013.

2 slain in Bulacan

In Bulacan, Reggie Mallorca, a resident of Barangay Bagbaguin in Meycauayan, shot it out with anti-drug operatives in a sting in Barangay Bahay Pare at around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, Senior Superintendent Romeo Caramat, provincial police director, said yesterday.

A .38 caliber revolver was allegedly recovered from the fatality.

Jaime Vasallo, councilman of Barangay Mabalas-balas  in San Rafael, was shot by motorcycle-riding men in front of his house also on Sunday.

Probers said the killing could be politically motivated.

Vasallo was reportedly planning to run for chairman in the barangay elections next month. – With Ramon Efren Lazaro, Raffy Cabristante/The Freeman