SORSOGON CITY—A newly elected barangay chairman and his two bodyguards, including a policeman, were gunned down on Saturday evening while attending a political gathering at a coastal village of this city that is known to be the “whale shark capital of the world.”

Senior Supt. Joel Regondola, Sorsogon police commander, identified the victims as Rodolfo Apuli, Police Officer 2 Antonio Orosco and Velly Repulca.

Apuli, a wealthy and influential fishing- boat operator, was elected chairman of barangay Guimagaan here in the October 29 barangay elections.

Apuli was a controversial personality in the locality because his alleged illegal-fishing activities that encroach on the rich fishing ground and whale-shark sanctuary within the prohibited areas of the municipal waters are not being stopped by the authorities.

Former mayor Salve Ocaya told the BusinessMirror on Sunday that Apuli had earned the ire of marginal fishermen and the sectors concerned with the protection of the fishing ground as part of the preservation of the whale sharks that draw thousands of tourists into the area yearly.

Apuli was also said to be eyeing the presidency of the Association of Barangay Chairmen in the city to enable him to seat in the city council as an ex-officio official. 

Orosco, who was assigned at the nearby Pio Duran town in Albay, was Apuli’s police escort, while Repulca was a civilian bodyguard.

The victims were attending the oath-taking of newly elected officials of barangay Tres Marias when three still-unidentified gunmen shot them, Regondola said.

The incident took place at about 7:30 p.m. and the victims died on the spot, Regondola said.

Police investigator recovered 19 spent shells of .223-caliber ammunition and seven .45 shells bullets from the crime scene, he added.

THE lawyer of wanted Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon turned the tables on the government on Sunday, saying that her client is being held by security forces and did not escape as claimed by the government.

THE United Nations (UN) reinvigorated its warning on the continued danger of an avian-influenza epidemic in individual nations and possible pandemic in the world in its joint report with the World Bank (WB) on the bird flu, although incidence has declined.

AN international group of activists from over 125 counties urged, in a report released last week, all governments to strengthen their political will toward the easing accessibility of drugs to treat HIV-AIDS, a disease that remains a threat to populations around the world.

THE BusinessMirror placed third in the Institutional Category for papers devoting editorial space to biotechnology issues, in the Third Jose G. Burgos Jr. Awards for Biotech Journalism at the Balai Kalinaw, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City

SORSOGON CITY—A newly elected barangay chairman and his two bodyguards, including a policeman, were gunned down on Saturday evening while attending a political gathering at a coastal village of this city that is known to be the “whale shark capital of the world.”

THE Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division told the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to terminate the presentation of witnesses as it finally took cognizance of the protracted proceedings in the Lucio Tan case.

A TOP official of the Aboitiz group in Cebu denied they have links with the group led by businessman Enrique Razon Jr. that is bidding for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).