Surigao City prosecutor critical after gun attack

SURIGAO CITY—A government prosecutor is in critical condition after a gun attack at his home in the village of Canlanipa here on Monday, according to police.

City Prosecutor Manuel Tesiorna was washing his car just outside his house in Canlanipa Homes when a motorcycle-riding gunman shot him four times around 7 a.m., said PO3 Johans Castillo, the investigating officer.

Tesiorna, 47, was preparing his car for work when he was shot in the chest, neck and back. The gunman and his companion, who were both wearing masks, fled onboard a white Honda motorcycle, police said.

The gunman used a 9-mm pistol, based on slugs found in the crime scene, police said.

A driver of a habal-habal, or motorcycle converted into a public utility vehicle, took Tesiorna to Miranda Family Hospital, where doctors said he needed blood transfusion. He was airlifted to Cebu City for treatment.

The attack on Tesiorna came four days after retired Regional Trial Court Judge Victor Canoy was shot dead by a lone gunman on Thursday while buying food at an eatery near his law office on Borja Street. Police still have no leads on Canoy’s shooting.

Senior Supt. Anthony Maghari, Surigao del Norte provincial police director, said Tesiorna sought, and was granted, police protection last week after Canoy was killed.

A policeman assigned to Tesiorna was on his way to the prosecutor’s home at the time the latter was attacked, according to Maghari.

Maghari said the two attacks are still being investigated, with police reviewing closed circuit television camera footage and interviewing witnesses to identify the suspects.

He said it was unlikely that one group was involved in the two attacks, although he declined to elaborate, citing an ongoing investigation. —DANILO V. ADORADOR II