The 61-year old Mayor Arsenio Agustin had just finished an inspection of a small water impounding project in Barangay Mabuti. He was walking towards his vehicle when an unidentified armed man shot him in the head which killed him in an instant.
Along with him was Mark Valencia, the employed backhoe operator who was shot in the back. He was announced dead on arrival at the Doña Josefa Edralin Marcos Hospital.
Mayor Agustin's bodyguards reportedly fired back against the assailant but he was able to escape from them.
There were recovered empty shell casings from an armalite at the crime scene.
According to Dingras Mayor Erdio Valenzuela, the Ilocos Norte chapter president of the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines and a close friend of the killed mayor, Agustin have been receiving death threats after his return in Ilocos Norte from Hawaii way back in 2013 to run for mayor and eventually won the election.
Agustin migrated to Hawaii but decided to return to Ilocos Norte to run for mayor under the Nacionalista Party of Gov. Imee Marcos.
Governor Imee Marcos of Ilocos Norte vowed to make the killer pay for what he has done.
"We will spare no effort to find and punish the killer", she announced.
Similar events happened to the town's Vice Mayor Jessie Ermitanio. Fortunately for him, he was able to survive the ambush while traveling along the dirt road in between Ragas and Daquioag villages. However, the vice mayor's driver was killed while two of the municipal employees were wounded from the attempt to execute the vice mayor.
"We condemn this heinous act, we will spare no effort to find and punish killers. I extend my prayers and sympathy to his family and friends who have over his time as mayor become close to us," Gov. Imee Marcos stated.
Source: INQ
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