Mayor of Gingoog City, police escort wounded in ambush; 2 drivers killed

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 21): Mayor of Gingoog City, police escort wounded in ambush; 2 drivers killed

An unidentified armed group ambushed the vehicle of Gingoog City Mayor Ruthie Guingona past 11:00 p.m. Saturday night in the outskirts of Gingoog City killing her two driver escorts, the military said Sunday.

The wounded Guingona was rescued only past 5:00 a.m. Sunday while the bodies of her two drivers identified as Nestor Velasco and his brother Tomas remained in the ambush area in Lower Kapitulangan, 15 kilometers, southwest of Gingoog City, a component city east of Misamis Oriental.

A police officer identified as Bonifacio Amper, a close-in security of Mayor Guingona, was reportedly wounded but was also declared out of danger.

Guingona was rushed to a hospital in Gingoog City for treatment. Her condition was stable, a member of the provincial board in Misamis Oriental, reported Sunday morning.

Provincial Board Member Jimmy Caina said that Guingona was on board a Toyota Hi-Lux pick-up which was in a convoy when waylaid by an armed group on her way home Saturday night after attending a fiesta in Upper Kapitulangan.

Caina said that Guingona’s vehicle was about a kilometer behind her escort vehicle, also a blue Toyota Hi-Lux, where most of her security escorts were on board. The security escort vehicle was not ambushed, Caina said.

He said he was two to three minutes behind Mayor Guingona’s vehicle on his way back to Gingoog City when the ambush was staged.

“We were two to three minutes behind Mayor Guingona’s vehicle but we stopped beside the road when we heard the staccato of gunfire ahead of us,” Caina said.

He said his group was not part of Guingona’s convoy which was ahead of them. “I was campaigning for my son who was running as an independent provincial board of Misamis Oriental,” Caina said.

According to Caina, he went down Sunday morning and was able to pass by Guingona’s vehicle which already fell on its side.

Guingona was trapped inside the vehicle since 11:00 p.m. Saturday since she was unable to open the vehicles' door at the back seat, Cain added.

Maj. Leo Bongasia, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said that a team of the Army’s special forces was immediately dispatched to the area past 11 p.m. Saturday.

He said the army soldiers came from the 58th Infantry Batallion based in Claveria, Misamis Oriental and Medina. Bongasia said the soldiers were now pursuing the armed group believed to be members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) Guerilla Front 4B, of the North Central Mindanao Revolutionary Command.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=518381