Driver hurt as gunmen attack Samar vice mayor’s car

TACLOBAN CITY, Feb. 6 (PNA) –- A group of gunmen attacked the car of San Jorge, Samar Vice Mayor Nancy Grey on Monday morning, wounding the driver, the regional police office reported.

Grey and two of her bodyguards just got into the car when gunmen hiding in bushes nearby opened fire at them. The shooting incident took place past 10 a.m. in front of the official’s house in Mancol village, San Jorge town.

A bullet hit Catalino Ubaob’s left foot. The vice mayor and her bodyguards were not hurt during the incident, according to the police report.

The official was heading to the town hall to preside a town council session.

The local police in San Jorge and Gandara towns have been conducting follow-up investigation relative to the incident. They earlier recovered empty shells of M-14 and M-16 armalite rifles from the crime scene.

Grey served as a mayor of San Jorge town for nine years. When her three terms expired last year, her husband, Joseph took over the town’s leadership.

On Jan. 31, three grenade blasts hit two houses and a warehouse owned by the mayor in Mancol village. A police officer and a security aide were hurt by the attack of unknown suspects.

Three days prior to the grenade attack, Lester Bisnar, the mayor’s opponent in the 2016 elections and his aide were wounded in an ambuscade in Lapaz village. The victim tagged the mayor’s three sons as suspects.

Grey’s family has been ruling the sleepy town for more than a decade. San Jorge is about 140 kilometers from Tacloban City, Eastern Visayas' cpital. It is a fourth-class town subdivided into 42 villages with a population of more than 17,000. (PNA)
LAP/SQM/VICKY C. ARNAIZ/EGR