Cotabato City mayor’s secretary shot, wounded in ambush

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday shot and wounded the secretary of Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr.

Guiani immediately condemned the attack even as he called on the police to get to the bottom of the attempt on the life of Aniceto Rasalan Jr.

Rasalan was driving his government-issued Mitsubishi L-300 van when shot by two men riding tandem on motorcycle as he was cruising Sinsuat Ave. around 2:30 p.m., the police said in its follow up report.

He was on his way to the city hall when ambushed.

Quoting a police investigation report, Guiani said the two men drove beside Rasalan’s car and pumped bullets into him using handguns.

Rasalan, he said, sustained gunshot wounds in the face and body.

Guiani said the victim was rushed to an undisclosed hospital and has been reported to be in stable condition.

He had been brought out of the intensive care unit two hours after the attack, he said.

Guiani described Rasalan as a hardworking government employee, who had no known enemies. This was the reason, he said, that the victim shunned personal armed escorts.

“He just performs his job. He was not involved in any political activity in the city,” he added.

Guiani said he already directed the police to conduct a deeper probe of the ambush and to identify the perpetrators and bring them before the bar of justice.

Rasalan once worked as a reporter for the Catholic-run dxMS and a staff of the weekly and the now-defunct Mindanao Kris. SFM