Negros Oriental board member running for May 2019 polls shot dead

DUMAGUETE CITY - A provincial board member in Negros Oriental was shot dead in Dumaguete City on Monday by motorcycle-riding assassins.

Police identified the victim as Miguel Dungog, an ex-officio member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) being the president of the Negros Oriental chapter of the Philippine Councilors’ League. He also served as councilor of Siaton town in southern Negros Oriental.

Dungog was seeking election as board member representing the province’s third district in the 2019 polls, running under Governor Roel Degamo’s ticket.

Initial police investigation showed that Dungog was shot dead Monday afternoon by gunmen wearing jackets and caps at the intersection of Route 7 and Aldecoa Drive in Barangay Daro, Dumaguete City, near Silliman University's Filomeno Cimafranca Ballfield and the Angelo King building.

He was on his way to the Silliman University Medical Center to have his daughter immunized. Vice Governor Mark Macias said Dungog asked permission to leave the Sangguniang Panlalawigan session early to attend to his daughter.

Dungog was talking to someone on his cellphone when the gunmen approached him and shot him once to the head at close range. He was killed on the spot, while his phone was destroyed after it was directly hit by the assassins’ bullet.

Investigators recovered a single empty shell of a caliber .45 pistol from the crime scene. They also said the board member may have been looking for a parking space as he was shot about 50 meters away from his car.

In response to Dungog’s murder, authorities on Tuesday formed a special investigation task group (SITG) dubbed “Task Force Dungog” to further look into the incident.

Dumaguete City Police acting chief Superintendent Gregorio Galsim said that Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NORPPO) acting director Senior Superintendent Raul Tacaca will lead Task Force Dungog.

Galsim added that they are now looking into two angles on the motive of the killing: Dungog's former work as an ex-agent of the NBI and personal grudges. Police are also not discounting the possibility that the board member's murder may have been politically motivated.

The police chief declined to disclose further details as investigation on the case is still ongoing.

For his part, Degamo strongly condemned Dungog’s killing, calling the board member a “dear friend and colleague in public service.”

“The provincial government, together with our law enforcement (agencies), are exhausting all our strength and efforts to pin down the ruthless perpetrators of such violent killing, whose only goal is to frighten us all… Migs will forever be an inspiration,” Degamo said in a statement  posted on the provincial government’s official Facebook page. —KG, GMA News