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LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines—An employee of the Register of Deeds of the provincial government of Quezon survived an ambush by two motorcycle-riding gunmen along the Maharlika Highway in Pagbilao town on Thursday morning, police said.
Chief Insp. Von June Nuyda, Pagbilao chief of police, said Arnel Pornobe, 45, was driving his van in Barangay Talipan, Pagbilao, at around 7:45 a.m. when the motorcycle-riding hitman suddenly appeared in front of the vehicle with the back rider, armed with a .45-caliber pistol, and repeatedly fired at the victim.
The gunmen immediately escaped after the shooting.
Police recovered seven empty shells at the crime scene.
The victim had just come from his house in a Pagbilao subdivision and was on his way to his office in the town’s Barangay Talipan, when he was ambushed. He sustained two gunshot wounds, one in the neck and another in the body, Nuyda said in phone interview.
Nuyda said Pornobe was rushed by bystanders to the MMG hospital in Lucena City, about 11 kilometers from Pagbilao, and was declared safe after receiving medical attention.
Police investigators are waiting for the victim to become strong enough for an interview with police investigators. Police are checking if the attempted killing was job-related or personal, according to Nuyda.
A highly placed source from the police here, however, disclosed that Pornobe has been working as an “asset or civilian intelligence/informer” of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Quezon but could not say if that had anything to do with the attempt on his life.
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