Village chief hurt in Masbate shooting

LEGAZPI CITY – A village chief was seriously wounded in a gun attack by unidentified gunmen in Balud town in Masbate province on Tuesday, police said.

Joseph Eswan, 36, village chief of Palani, was inside his house in Barangay Poblacion around 7 a.m Tuesday, when two men accosted him and suddenly fired.

He was hit in various parts of his body, said Chief Insp. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol police spokesperson.

The gunmen fled on board a motorcycle. Eswan was rushed to the Masbate Provincial Hospital for treatment.

Calubaquib said the victim’s wife told the police that before the attack, the suspected gunmen were looking for Eswan to sell a gun.

She said the incident brings to five the election-related shooting incidents in Masbate. Two have died and three were wounded. Mar S. Arguelles/lzb