Police said San Miguel barangay captain Jose Gonzales Jr. was driving his patrol car with his son Jayson, a Sangguniang Kabataan leader, toward the town proper at past 11 a.m. when the gunmen fired at them at close range. The killers fled toward Arayat town.
A doctor declared the elder Gonzales dead on arrival at the Mexico Community Hospital. His son was transferred to a hospital in the nearby City of San Fernando.
The motive of the killing was not yet clear, according to Senior Superintendent R’win Pagkalinawan, provincial police director.
Inquirer sources said Gonzales had a heated argument several weeks ago with Mayor Teddy Tumang, who has been suspended for three months by the Office of the Ombudsman.
Before this, two village chiefs in Arayat were waylaid. Barangay captains Joel Puyat of San Agustin Norte and Armando Castro of Barangay San Roque Bitas were killed in August and October.