Negros lawyer hurt, driver slain in ambush

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — A lawyer was wounded while her driver was killed in an ambush in Talisay, Negros Occidental on Friday night.

Erfe del Castillo, 44, suffered injuries in the arms and head after she was hit by glass shards. She remains confined at the Dr. Pablo Torre Medical Center.

Del Castillo’s driver Efren Palmares died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Initial investigation showed Del Castillo was in a silver Porsche driven by Palmares when they were shot along the Bacolod-Silay Airport access road in Barangay Matab-ang.

Police Officer 3 Edmundo Jomocan said four bullet shells for an M16 rifle and eight for a 9mm pistol were recovered at the scene.

Del Castillo is the third lawyer targeted by unidentified assailants in Negros in the past four months.

Last Aug. 23, Rafael Atutubo was gunned down  in Bacolod City. On Nov. 6, human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos was slain in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental.

On Dec. 14, Bacolod Councilor Ricardo Tan and his wife Nita were wounded in a shooting in Barangay Alangilan in this city.

The gun attacks remain unresolved.

Meanwhile, a barangay kagawad in Buguey town in Cagayan was gunned down by motorcycle-riding men along the highway in Barangay San Vicente on Friday. 

Police said Rey Ugale, 49, was driving to the town proper on his motorcycle when he was attacked at around 5 p.m.  He died at the scene.

Probers are eyeing a land dispute as the motive for the killing. – With Raymund Catindig