PCSO board secretary shot dead in Mandaluyong City

MANILA, Philippines — A high-ranking official of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) was shot dead while on his way home from his office in Mandaluyong City on Thursday afternoon, police said.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Mandaluyong City Police chief Col Hector Grijaldo, Jr. said Board Secretary Wesley Barayuga, a lawyer and a retired general, was gunned down by an unidentified assailant on a motorcycle around 3:30 p.m. at the corner of Calbayog and Malinaw Streets in Brgy. Highway Hills.

Barayuga suffered injuries in the head – near the neck, and one under the armpit, Grijaldo said, adding that one of the assailants who trailed the victim’s white pick-up government vehicle shot him from the passenger’s seat.

“The gunman first shot at the victim from behind hitting the lower head… The suspect went back and shot him again near the armpit,” he explained.

Barayuga’s driver, Jun Gunao, was also shot in the body and rushed to the hospital. He is being operated on as of this posting, according to police.

Grijaldo said Barayuga could have just finished his work and was bound home when one of the three suspects allegedly followed his vehicle from behind.

Police said they are looking at three suspects: two motorbike drivers and a driver of a light brown Honda Civic car who stopped in front of the victim’s vehicle.

“Based on the CCTV, the driver’s Honda car  was hit but instead of reporting the incident, he went away. So we’re looking into his involvement; we are assuming he is part of the group who attacked the victim,” Grijaldo said.

Closed-circuit television footage showed the suspect going beside Barayuga’s government vehicle and shooting him through the passenger side.

The police are looking into an old grudge and his work as a board secretary who signs important official resolutions and PCSO documents as among possible motives behind the attack, according to Grijaldo.

At the moment, police said they have not received any report saying Barayuga had a death threat.

In 2013, Barayuga held a general position in Camp Crame as an executive officer for the Directorate for Logistics. He served as Board Secretary of PCSO, which is now led by PCSO General Manager Royina Garma.

Barayuga was the second government official gunned down in just a week as it comes after National Center for Mental Health chief Roland Cortez was killed along Tandang Sora Avenue last Monday, hours before President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa. with reports from Gabriel Pabico Lalu, INQUIRER.net