By MARTIN SADONGDONG
A newly-elected barangay chairman was killed in an ambush perpetrated by at least two motorcycle-riding suspects yesterday in San Jose, Batangas which was ironically the day the election gun ban ended.
Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, regional director of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) Police Regional Office (PRO-4A), identified the victim as Demetrio Mendoza Deomampo, 51.
Initial investigation revealed that Deomampo left his rest house in Barangay Pinagtung-ulan onboard an Isuzu Hilander (PN VAB761) when the suspects ambushed him along the National Highway around 8:25 a.m.
The suspects riddled the car with bullets and immediately fled toward Lipa City afterward, Eleazar said.
Witnesses managed to rush Deomampo to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Eleazar added that the suspects were not immediately identified as they were wearing helmets and the incident happened in a matter of minutes.
Eleazar bared that Deomampo was the newly elected chairman of Barangay Buso-buso in Laurel, Batangas after winning in the recently concluded Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections 2018 on May 14.
Eleazar already ordered a thorough probe to determine the identities of the suspects and the motive behind the incident, including whether or not it is an election-related incident.
The killing of Deomampo happened just as the five-week election period and Commission on Elections (Comelec) ended yesterday.