South Cotabato town mayor’s aide shot

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

KORONADAL CITY–Unidentified gunmen riding in tandem on a motorbike shot and seriously injured a former town councilor of Polomolok, South Cotabato while he was on his way to the municipal hall at about noon on Friday.

Former municipal councilor Rhyolite Agregado Balili, personal secretary of Mayor Bernie Palencia, was driving his Toyota Wigo and was about to park near the town hall when shot at close range by two men on motorbike at about 11 a.m.

Balili sustained gunshot wounds in various parts of his body.

Lt. Col. Joseph Forro III, Polomolok police chief, said the victim was rushed to a private hospital in Gen. Santos City.

“We are still digging deeper and a manhunt had been launched,” Forro said in a radio interview.

Palencia has condemned the attack against his personal secretary and directed the police to work with the Army in tracking down the suspects and bring them behind bars.

Three members of the Civil Security Unit of the Polomolok local government, including a former police major who served as chief civil security, were separately killed in January this year.

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JPV