North Cotabato village chair survives ambush
COTABATO CITY – A village chairperson has survived an ambush in Magpet town, North Cotabato, police revealed Wednesday.
Supt. Bernard Tayong, North Cotabato police provincial spokesperson, said Barangay Salab chariman Ferdinand Cariaga was aboard his motorbike on his way to the Municipal Peace and Order Council (MPOC) meeting in the town proper when ambushed by still unidentified gunmen.
Magpet town police head Chief Insp. Jose Molina said Cariaga was driving his motorbike around 9 a.m. Tuesday when attacked. The victim sustained gunshot wounds in the chest, abdomen, and thigh.
Tayong said residents rushed Cariaga to a nearby hospital where he underwent surgical operation around Tuesday noon. Cariaga was critically wounded but still conscious.
Police and military investigators believed that the New Peoples’ Army was behind the ambush. /kga
