Laguna village councilor ‘critical’ after attack in barangay hall

Sta. Cruz, Laguna (Google maps)

SAN PEDRO CITY-A barangay (village) councilor in Sta. Cruz town in Laguna province is in critical condition following an attack by motorcycle-riding gunmen in the village hall, the police said on Friday.

Supt. Eliseo Bernales, the Sta. Cruz police chief, said Eric Ambrocio, a councilor in Barangay Gatid, was sitting in front of the village hall around 10 p.m. Thursday when two gunmen on a motorcycle shot him several times.

A village watchman rushed Ambrocio to the provincial hospital while the gunmen escaped.

“He is critical right now because of too many gunshots. He was transferred just this morning to PGH (Philippine General Hospital in Manila),” Bernales said in a phone interview.

Bernales said they were looking at several angles to determine the motive in the attack, particularly Ambrocio’s campaign against illegal drugs and crimes in the town.

“He’s very active in his campaign against criminality that people here in fact refer to him as ‘action man.’ That earned him a lot of enemies too,” Bernales said.