Anakpawis chairman shot dead in Sorsogon

Broadcaster and Anakpawis partylist chairman Teodoro Escanilla was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Sorsogon on Wednesday, provincial authorities said.

The motive for the murder has not yet been determined.

In a phone call to GMA News Online on Thursday, Sorsogon provincial police spokesperson Supt. Nonito Marquez said that Escanilla's wife woke up to hear her husband conversing with two men at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Though she was unable to recall their conversation, she heard the two men shooting her husband then departing from their home in Brgy. Tagdon in the town of Barcelona.

According to interviews with Escanilla's wife and their neighbors, the two suspects ran off in an unknown direction after the shooting.

Escanilla was rushed to the Sorsogon Mission Medical Group hospital, though it is unclear whether he died at the scene or later passed away in the hospital.

Three empty shells from a .45-caliber handgun and five M16 rifle shells were recovered from the scene of the crime.

Marquez said a dedicated investigation team has been created to investigate the murder and track down the shooters.

"Sa ngayon kasi medyo ano pa tayo, pero sa pagtutulungan ng mamamayan at pulisya matutukoy din po natin ang mga pumaslang," he said.

Escanilla, who was also the spokesperson for the human rights watch group Karapatan Sorsogon, was the anchorman of the people's advocacy show "Pamana ng Lahi" on DZMS radio for the last 10 years.

According to Bicol Today, the broadcaster had allegedly been warned about being on a military "hit list" due to an exposé about human rights abuses in the province. — BM, GMA News