PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 20, 2012) – A southern Philippine town deputy mayor escaped unscathed from an assassination attempt following an attack on his convoy in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province that wounded one of his police escorts, officials said Thursday.
Officials said an unidentified lobbed a fragmentation grenade on the convoy of Ukol Talumpa of Labangan town in downtown Pagadian City while heading back home from shopping.
The attack, which occurred at around 5.40 p.m. on Wednesday, was believed to be politically motivated, police and military said.
Army explosives experts were sent to the area to help police investigate the blast and soldiers found fragments of the grenade.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Maj. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, the regional army commander, said they are stepping up security patrol in the outskirts of Zamboanga del Sur to help the local police force secure Pagadian from lawless elements.
“We are closely coordinating with the police to ensure peace not only in the province, but Pagadian as well,” Cruz told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
In 2010, Talumpa and his niece were injured in an attack by suspected hired killers on their car in Manila. (Mindanao Examiner)
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