Negros Oriental Governor Degamo is the latest target in the Philippines’ long history of attacks on politicians.
A provincial governor in the central Philippines and five others were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the latest attack against local politicians.
Police said six of the suspects, carrying rifles and wearing uniforms similar to those worn by the armed forces, entered the governor’s house in the town of Pamplona and opened fire.
His widow said Roel Digamo, governor of the eastern province of Negros, and five others were killed in the shooting.
“Governor Digamo did not deserve this kind of death. He was serving his constituents on Saturday,” Pamplona’s mayor, Janis Digamo, said in a video posted to Facebook.
Police said in a statement on Saturday that the hospital conditions of the victims were unknown.
Digamo, 56, is the latest targeting in the Philippines’ long history of attacks on politicians, and is at least the third to be shot since last year’s local elections.
President Ferdinand Marcos has condemned what he describes as the “assassination” of his political ally Digamo, and promised prompt justice for his murder.
Last month, the Supreme Court declared Digamo the rightful winner of the Negros Oriental gubernatorial contest after a recount of votes unseated his local rival, who had previously been declared the winner.
Attacks on politicians
Mamental Adiong, governor of the southern province of Lanao del Sur, was shot in February in an attack that killed his driver and three police escorts.
That same month, the deputy sheriff of the northern city of Apari, Rommel Alameda, and five other people traveling with him were killed in a highway ambush.
Chiefs of a powerful southern clan and about 20 of their followers have been sentenced to life in prison for a 2009 attack on supporters of a rival in the Maguindanao provincial gubernatorial election. As a result of the attack, 58 people were killed, including the politician’s wife and their relatives, along with 32 journalists and media workers.