Simona Botviciute,

Editor (Asia-Far East)

MANILA – Labangan Mayor Ukol Talumpa was declared dead on arrival at the hospital shortly after the shootings at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Three other people, including his wife, his niece and a less than two-year-old boy, were shot fatally. Among five others injured was a three-year-old girl who suffered a head wound.

The shootings blasted at Terminal 3, 11:20AM local time, shortly after Mr. Talumpa arrived from Zamboanga del Sur. The airport handles both domestic and international flights and was extremely busy at the time of the attack causing mass panic and chaos. Witnesses reported only one gunman who escaped immediately after attacking the mayor with help of another unknown man riding a motorcycle.

Jose ErwinVillacorte, Manila’s Southern Police District director, claimed that the mayor’s security had not yet reclaimed their weapons after the flight, so they were unarmed when a gunman appeared.

According to the local police, the mayor had previously survived assassination attempts, such an ambush in 2010 and grenade attack in 2012, so it is clear that he was the main target today. Police are still gathering information for the investigation, but the airport remains opened.

The Philippines remains plagued by the political violence, which is extremely common in Zamboanga region.

 

More to follow.

 

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Simona Botviciute

Simona Botviciute

Simona is the Editor of Asia – Far East section of The Global Panorama. She is continuously studying in School of Journalism, Media & Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. She enjoys both news writing and editorial type of work regarding any cultural or political aspect of Asian countries. Being a passionate music lover she is also a contributor to the Music section of the website.