Gov’t worker killed after surviving slay attempt

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines — Two unidentified men shot dead an employee of the environment office here early Tuesday morning, barely five months after the man survived an earlier assassination attempt, police said.

Agustin Abequibel, 40, a resident of Urban Poor Women’s subdivision in Barangay (village) Singao, was driving to work on his motorcycle around 5 a.m. when the gunmen flagged him down and shot him.

Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista said Abequibel died instantly from five gunshot wounds, including a fatal one in the abdomen.

Evangelista said he had ordered the police to dig deeper into the killing as the victim, who worked at the city environment and natural resources office, was also shot and wounded by unidentified men last September. He was hit in the neck with the bullet exiting in the face, according to one of the victim’s neighbors.