Former Bulacan town mayor gunned down

MANILA, Philippines - Unidentified armed men shot dead Sunday night a former Bulacan town mayor and brother of former Bulacan governor and ex-Philippine International Trading Center chairman Roberto Pagdanganan. The victim, former Calumpit town mayor Ramon Pagdanganan, was shot dead during a procession following a fiesta in Calizon village at about 8 p.m. "Si Monching, may nababanggit siyang parang kine-casing siya, may nagmamanman. May nabanggit siyang ilang sariling paniwala. Kung maari hintayin ko muna investigation pero maraming naniniwalang pulitika ito (Monching told me some months back about people conducting surveillance near his house. I'd rather not comment for now but I'll say that many believe politics was the motive behind the killing)," former Gov. Pagdanganan said in an interview on dzRH radio Monday morning. Police cited initial reports by witnesses indicating the armed men fled aboard at least three motorcycles immediately after the incident. The victim was rushed to the Bulacan Provincial Hospital but died along the way. Calumpit is a first-class urban town with a population of 81,113 people in 16,167 households. Former Gov. Pagdanganan cited initial police reports indicating the assailants used a 9-mm and a cal-.45 pistol in killing his brother. He said the shooting was not immediately noticed because there were firecrackers being lit during the fiesta and procession. He said the shooting occurred at 8:05 p.m. "Nagpuputukan ng kwitis, nakita nila lugmok si Monching kaya nalamang binaril. Nakaalis sa motorcycle ang salarin (There were firecrackers exploding all around, but it was only when Monching slumped to the ground that someone noticed something was wrong. By then, the assailants had already escaped)," Pagdanganan said. The former governor also scored police scene-of-the-crime operations (SOCO) teams for taking more than an hour before arriving at the crime scene. "Isang oras na, wala pa ang SOCO team sa site (More than an hour had passed but the SOCO team had not shown up)," he said. - GMANews.TV