TRENTO, Agusan del Sur – A newly elected town councilor here, who ran under President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday night while he was about to eat dinner with his wife and two supporters outside his home in Barangay Poblacion.
Two others were injured in the attack, said Senior Insp. Alex Celiz, the town police chief.
Celiz said Chito Mabunga, 42, the lone PDP-Laban candidate in the town, was hit six times in the different parts of his body when two men on a tricycle opened fire at his group around 7:45 p.m.
His supporters, Alexis Arca and Rey Palma, were also injured while his wife Rose was unscathed.
Mabunga was rushed to a hospital but he died before receiving medical treatment.
Police recovered from the crime scene four fired cartridges of bullets from a .45-caliber gun.
Celiz said the faces of the gunmen had been captured by the CCTV camera at Mabunga’s home.
Former Butuan City Rep. Charito Plaza, the PDP-Laban vice president for Mindanao, condemned the attack.
“I abhor the killing of my dear friend and the PDP municipal chairman of Trento Chito Mabunga,” Plaza said.
She said the victim earlier confided to him the death threats he had received and the political harassment he and his family suffered during the campaign period. SFM/rga