BY AARON RECUENCO
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UNIDENTIFIED gunmen wounded the driver and the security officer of the incumbent mayor of Teresa town of Rizal in an apparent ambush on Monday.
Police said Mayor Raul Palino appeared to be the target of the attack, but the local chief executive was unharmed.
A report reaching Camp Crame in Quezon City said Palino was on his way home on board a van when gunmen started shooting the vehicle along E. Rodriguez Avenue in Barangay Poblacion on Teresa town at around 5 p.m.
The driver of the mayor identified as 38-year-old Joel Balajafia and security escort Ruel Javier were hit.
They were taken to the Saint Therese Hospital and are still undergoing medical treatment.
“After the incident, suspects fled on foot towards Antipolo City,” the report read.
The local police immediately launched follow-up operations to arrest the gunmen.
Palino, it was recalled, was among those named last year by President Duterte as involved in illegal drugs activities.
