MANILA, Philippines --A lawyer was shot and wounded by a gunman as he was walking toward his office in Quezon City on Tuesday morning, police said.

Renen Villanueva, 49, is in critical condition at the Capitol Medical Center after he sustained at least seven gunshot wounds, said Superintendent Rogelio Cabrera, commander of the Quezon City Police District Station 10.

Cabrera said they were looking at the possibility that the attack was related to the victim's profession.

Cabrera said Villanueva's secretary told them that her boss was also at odds with the owner of the victim's office.

"We have invited his friends and other persons who can give us [information] about the cases that he is handling," Cabrera told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

He said the victim had just alighted from his car and was walking to his office at CC Castro Building along Timog Avenue, Barangay (village) Laging Handa when two men on board a motorcycle tailed him at around 7:30 a.m.

One of the men suddenly pulled out a handgun and shot the victim repeatedly, Cabrera said.

The assailants immediately fled toward Kamuning Road, he said.

Police recovered nine slugs for 9-millimeter caliber firearm from the crime scene.

The INQUIRER learned that a day before the incident, the victim attended an anti-administration rally a few meters away from his office.