Dumaguete lawyer gunned down

DUMAGUETE CITY ,Philippines - An unidentified man shot to death a lawyer inside his office in the downtown area of this city just a little after 11 a.m. yesterday.

Lawyer Archer Baldwin Ricardo Martinez sustained three gunshot wounds on his chest and abdomen and was rushed to the Holy Child Hospital, a few blocks away from his office, where doctors tried to save him via surgery.

Attending physicians however declared Martinez dead at around 2 p.m. yesterday, a report confirmed by the victim's relatives.

City Police OIC chief Eddie Oira said initial investigations showed the gunman, wearing a ball cap but with his face uncovered, barged into Martinez' office.

In the presence of Martinez' associate lawyer, Cynthia Sulit Portugaleza, his secretary and other staff members, the assailant fired several shots at the victim, said Oira.

Investigators also said that Martinez and his wife had just arrived at the office from their house. The wife proceeded to a boutique on the ground floor of the Leq Tak building at Ma. Cristina and San Jose Streets, while the lawyer proceeded to his office on the second floor.

Sulit-Portugaleza told reporters she was attending to a client in an adjacent cubicle of the Martinez law office when she heard three successive shots. Office personnel immediately dropped to the floor to take cover.

Other people in the building where many offices are located also heard gunshots and described the perpetrator as having fled on foot towards Rizal Boulevard, just a few hundred meters away from the law office and turned right towards the coastal village of Tinago, said Oira.

Police recovered from the scene at least two spent shells of .45 caliber gun and a live round of ammunitions.

As of press time, the police were on a city-wide manhunt of the gunman, but they could not yet release to the media any information on the possible motive of the attack pending further investigation.