Ex-Cabiao vice mayor killed in Nueva Ecija

(Update) MANILA, Philippines - Two unidentified gunmen shot dead a former vice mayor of Cabiao town in Nueva Ecija province Thursday afternoon, the local police said. Senior Superintendent Romeo Ramos, chief of the Cabiao municipal police, identified the victim as former Cabiao vice mayor Bonifacio Clemente. He was shot dead at 1 p.m. Initial investigation showed that the incident occurred at Purok 1, San Fernando Sur village along the Cabiao national highway, where Clemente was having a flat tire of his Starex van replaced. Clemente was talking on his cell phone when two assailants, riding a motorcycle in tandem, arrived and repeatedly shot him from the back. The attackers immediately fled, leaving the victim with six gunshot wounds to his head and neck, causing his instant death. Investigators recovered from the crime scene a number of empty shells of a 45-cal. pistol. “We have yet to establish a motive. But it’s best that we wait for the outcome of the investigation," Ramos told GMANews.TV by phone. Police are still trying to get information from witnesses, who were reportedly still in shock over the incident. The victim’s body is currently undergoing autopsy at the Alleluia Funeral homes, also in San Fernando Sur. According to the police chief, Clemente had been operating a local cockpit ever since he left his post as vice mayor Cabiao is a third class municipality and lies on the southern tip of Nueva Ecija, at the boundary of Pampanga. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV