Batangas vice mayor shot, wounded at SM Mall of Asia

MANILA, Philippines —A Batangas town vice mayor was shot and wounded at SM Mall of Asia Thursday morning, police said.

But Talisay Vice Mayor Florencio Manimtim Jr., who sustained three gunshot wounds, was already in stable condition at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pasay City, said Leonito Dacera, security chief at the hospital.

“He is now in stable condition. But had the drive to the hospital been longer, his condition may have worsened,” Dacera said.

Manimtim sustained three gunshot wounds, one on his side and two on his back when he was shot outside the building of the sprawling SM Mall of Asia, said Dacera.

His bodyguard and police escorts rushed him to the hospital, he said.

He said that the local official seemed to have difficulty breathing when he was brought to the operating room earlier.

Police Officer 2 Giovanni Arcinue, an investigator from the Pasay City police, said that Manimtim was admitted to the hospital at around 11:40 a.m.

“The shooting incident may have happened at around 11:30 a.m. but we have yet to speak with his body guard,” Arcinue said.

Several supporters of the vice-mayor have arrived from Talisay, Batangas, to donate blood for the official. They refused however to release information on the medical condition of the official.

Meanwhile, a traffic enforcer who asked not to be named, said that the gunman drove off on board a Honda CB 110 motorcycle without a plate.

This was the second attempt on Manimtim’s life, the first attack happened in Talisay last year.