LTO exec in critical condition after slay try

OZAMIZ CITY, Philippines – Another official of the Land Transportation Office was shot and critically injured by a still unidentified assailant on Thursday, barely two months after a similar attack killed the that agency’s regional director.

According to a report on the police blotter, Edwin Bucal, chief of operations at the LTO office here, was near the Osmeña-Roxas Park when attacked by a lone assailant. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was in critical condition at a hospital, police investigators said.

Bucal became the second LTO official attacked here since June.

His boss, Gerry Banggan, was shot dead while playing tennis inside the city engineering compound.

With respect to Banggan’s death, the police said a family feud could have been behind it.

“But we are not saying we are definite on that but it is one of the angles we have considered,” said Inspector Kenneth Peniza, deputy chief of police, said.

Senior Superintendent Gervacio Balmaceda, Ozamiz police chief, said the police’s investigating team also considered the victim’s work as one of the possible angles.

Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog-Echaves challenged the police to solve the latest attack, saying it was the latest on a list of high-profile murders committed here.

Last year, gunmen also killed a barangay (village) councilman and a volunteer reporter for a radio station here.