Comatose Isabela mayor dies 4 months after ambush

BAYOMBONG, Philippines - Mayor Francisco Talosig of the coastal town of Maconacon in the northern province of Isabela died on Wednesday, four months after being shot by a still unidentified man in Tuguegarao, Cagayan. Talosig, 58, died while in a coma at the Cabagan District Hospital in Cabagan, Isabela. The hospital’s medical staff said the mayor died due to multiple organ failure complicated by pneumonia. Police reports showed that on May 20, the mayor along with two councilors and a security escort were waiting along a crossing onboard a Hyundai van when a lone male suspect approached them and shot the victim in the neck with a .45-caliber pistol. Chief Supt. Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley regional police director, said the wound has caused the mayor to fall into a coma shortly after the shooting and has since been kept alive only through a respirator. His remains were taken to his residence in Cabagan town’s Ugad village. - GMANews.TV