Town councilor shot dead in Masbate

NAGA CITY, Philippines – A town councilor seeking reelection was shot dead Sunday afternoon in Balud town, Masbate, just a day after a vice mayoral candidate in Mobo town was gunned down, the Philippine National Police in the province said.

Ladislao Macuha, 66, was shot dead on the spot by an unidentified gunman at about 3:30 p.m. in Barangay San Andres, said Masbate police director Senior Supt. Heriberto Olitoquit in a phone interview.

Macuha, was with his relative Florindo Villalobos, 50, who was wounded in the shooting incident, Olitoquit said.

Villalobos was rushed to the Masbate Provincial Hospital in Masbate City where he is in critical condition, Olitoquit added.

Balud Mayor Ruel Benisano said Macuha was an ally and was seeking his last term as councilor under the United Nationalist Alliance.

Benisano said Macuha was gunned down in the cockpit in Sitio Tambobo by a gunman who was backed by lookouts.

Tambobo is about 18 kilometers south of the town proper of Balud, which is about 70 km southwest of Masbate City, the provincial capital.

He said Macuha was one of his “strongest” leaders.

Benisano is allied with the Rep. Antonio Kho of the second district.

Gov. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete, a political opponent of Kho, however said that Macuha was supporting her even if he was allied with Benisano.

Seachon-Lanete, who is seeking reelection under the Nationalist People’s Coalition, also lost another ally – Mobo vice mayoral candidate Isagani Lupango, who died at the Masbate Doctors Hospital at around 1 a.m. Sunday from four gunshot wounds.

Lupango, 41, the village chief of Tugbo who sat as council member of Mobo as president of the town’s Liga ng mga Barangay, was shot by still unknown assailants just outside the town’s cockpit at around 5 p.m. Saturday.