BACOLOD City – Police were still verifying if rebels were indeed responsible for shooting and killing a councilor of Guihulngan City, Negros Occidental.
The 60-year-old Paolo Edison Dela Rita was driving a motorcycle around 7:30 a.m. on Monday when two armed men on board another motorcycle waylaid and fired at him in Sitio Looc, Barangay Poblacion, Guihulngan City, police said.
Dela Rita sustained multiple gunshot wounds on the body and was brought to a nearby hospital but died along the way, added the police.
Recovered from the crime scene were several empty shells of a .45-caliber firearm and six live bullets of the same gun.
The shooting came almost eight months after Dela Rita’s bodyguard – Russel Vallespin – was shot to death by suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
At the time, Vallespin was driving a motorcycle with Dela Rita on board. They were off to Barangay Poblacion from Barangay Balogo in Guihulngan City.
Guihulngan City police head Superintendent Bonifacio Tecson told media members that Dela Rita was targeted by either the NPA or his political enemies./PN
