Valenzuela man shot dead on New Year's Eve

A man, 53, was shot dead on New Year's Eve in Valenzuela City, even as the police said they are still determining if he was the victim of a stray bullet or was deliberately shot. Radio dzBB reported that the victim, initially identified as William Gallanes, a resident of Gen. T. de Leon in Valenzuela, succumbed to two bullets in the head and the body. He was rushed to the Valenzuela General Hospital but died while undergoing treatment. Police are still trying to locate the suspect. This developed as another resident, identified as Mario Candillo, 23, was wounded after being hit by a stray bullet in Valenzuela City. Candillo said he was walking along the street when he felt his right arm bleeding. He was rushed to the Valenzuela General Hospital for treatment. Earlier, a 21-year-old woman became one of the early victims of stray bullets fired to welcome the New Year in Antipolo City Monday night. The victim, initially identified as Jonalyn Villamor, was rushed to the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center after being wounded in the left hand. She could not immediately identify where the bullet came from. Meanwhile, as fireworks-related injuries flooded hospitals in Metro Manila, government doctors insisted the anti-fireworks campaign is effective as there had been no “major" injuries yet. Philippine General Hospital (PGH) spokesman Michael Tee said that as of 10 p.m., they have not recorded any “serious" injuries that required amputations. “The campaign of the Department of Health is quite effective. There have been no serious injuries. We hope and pray we don’t encounter those cases," Tee said in an interview on Q-11 television. However, radio dzBB reported that patients continued to trickle in at the Valenzuela General Hospital, with children aged five to 12 brought in for firecracker-related injuries. In Pasay and Makati Cities, there were “only" three victims, including a nine-year-old boy hit by a firecracker in the leg, and a 41-year-old man hit in the left eye by “kwitis." In Manila, five patients were brought to hospitals in the city after suffering firecracker-related injuries, most of them from the piccolo. - GMANews.TV