SAN PABLO CITY ? A city councilor, his bodyguard, and a former village captain were killed while two others were wounded in an ambush by at least six gunmen on Wednesday, police said yesterday.

One of the assailants was also killed when the bodyguard returned fire before he died.

Police identified the dead as Danilo Yang, councilor and noted anti-illegal drug advocate; his bodyguard Brando de los Santos; and Romulo Barcenas, former captain of Barangay (village) Santiago 2.

The fourth dead man, the assailant, had not been identified.

Superintendent Raul Bargamento, San Pablo City police chief, said another bodyguard of Yang, identified as Joven Lopez, and bystander Mark Edward Herrera, 17, were wounded in the attack.

The report said the ambush took place in Barangay Bautista near an elementary school in the area at about 9 p.m., while Yang was attending an amateur singing contest held for the feast of John the Baptist, the village?s patron saint.

Five of the gunmen escaped on foot, while the victims were rushed to the San Pablo City Hospital where the four were declared dead on arrival.

Police believed politics could be the motive for the killing, Bargamento said.

Yang was reported to be planning to run for vice mayor of the city in the 2010 elections.

Bargamento said at around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, Angie, Yang?s wife, received an anonymous text message that read, ?Condolence.?

In Tiaong, Quezon, some 96 kilometers south of Manila, three robbery suspects were killed in a clash with police.

Senior Superintendent Elmo Francis Sarona, Quezon police chief, said a police team, led by Inspector Fernando Reyes III, spotted a group of men in Barangay Paiisa in Tiaong at around 1:45 a.m.

The men opened fire as policemen approached, Sarona said.

Police returned fire, killing three of the men, whose identities were not known yet.

Sarona said the dead men bore tattoos of ?Sputnik.? Romulo O. Ponte and Maricar P. Cinco with a report from Delfin Mallari, Inquirer Southern Luzon