Manila: A town mayor of the southern Philippines, a legislator of northern Luzon, and two bystanders in a wake in suburban Caloocan City were killed in three separate attacks, police reports said.
Mayor George Yabes of Maitum town in Sarangani province died when one of three motorcycle-riding men shot him at close range in front of a public building at Poblacion, Maitum at around 1:45pm yesterday, said Chief Superintendent German Doria, the police chief of central Mindanao. Yabes sustained a fatal wound in his left ear. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was declared dead on arrival, Doria said.
Yabes was assassinated while inspecting the town proper. Two civilian aides were with him at the time, Doria said.
Death threats
Yabes had received death threats last May, Doria said.
Meanwhile, James Bersamin, 57, a provincial board member in Abra province of the northern Philippines was shot dead by an unidentified gunman at dawn on Friday, said a belated report yesterday. Bersamin died from seven gunshot wounds from a calibre .45 firearm of a gunman aboard a motorcycle. The legislator was jogging with friends when the incident occurred, said Pat Bernardez, one of the legislator's jogging partners.
"The gunman's firearm jammed twice but he came closer to finish off my friend," said Bernardez.
He was the first of Abra's politicians killed this year, and the 700th victim of extra-judicial killings in the country since 2001.
Abra's governor Vicente Valera said Bersamin was a "man of peace", adding, "We do not know of someone who hated him."
At the same time, two people were killed and 21 others were injured when three men threw a grenade into a hall where a wake was being held in suburban Caloocan City late on Friday, a belated police report said yesterday.
The identities of those who died and those who were injured were withheld, said Senior Superintendent Geronimo Reside, police chief of Caloocan.
With inputs from Artemio Dumlao and Ulysses Israel, Correspondents
