Bike riding gunmen kill Nueva Ecija village chief

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines — Unidentified assailants gunned down a barangay (village) chair in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, Saturday afternoon, amid an election gun ban.

Cabiao is one of the 17 towns and cities identified by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as among Nueva Ecija’s areas of concern for the May 9 polls.

Slain village leader Rolando Bautista was in a vehicle with a female relative when the suspects rode close by and opened fire. Bautista was declared dead on arrival at a hospital.

Witnesses could not identify the gunmen, whose faces were concealed.

Aside from Cabiao, Comelec’s areas of concern include the towns of Bongabon, Jaen, Aliaga, Quezon, Licab, Zaragoza, San Leonardo, Pantabangan, Sto. Domingo, Talavera, Gen. Tinio, San Antonio, Talugtug and the cities of Munoz, Cabanatuan and Gapan.