Ilocos Norte mayor, employee shot dead

LAOAG CITY — Mayor Arsenio Agustin of Marcos town in Ilocos Norte was shot dead by a lone gunman on Saturday after inspecting a water impounding project at Barangay Mabuti in Marcos, police said.

A witness said Agustin, 61, was walking towards his parked vehicle when he was shot in the head. His companion, Mark Valencia, a backhoe operator employed by the town government, was shot in the back.

Agustin died instantly while Valencia died before reaching the Doña Josefa Edralin Marcos District Hospital in Marcos.

Police said Agustin’s bodyguards fired at the suspect who escaped. Recovered from the crime scene were empty shells fired from an Armalite rifle.

Agustin had been receiving death threats, according to Dingras Mayor Erdio Valenzuela, Ilocos Norte chapter president of the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines, and a close friend of the slain mayor.

On April 4, Marcos Vice Mayor Jessie Ermitanio survived an ambush on a dirt road between Barangay Ragas and Daquioag in Marcos. His driver was killed and two municipal employees were wounded in the attack. —LEILANIE ADRIANO