Negros Oriental Governor Degamo is the latest to be targeted in the long history of attacks on politicians in the Philippines.
A provincial governor in the central Philippines and five others have been shot dead by unknown gunmen in the latest attack on local politicians.
Police said six suspects with guns and dressed in uniforms similar to those worn by the armed forces entered the governor’s house in the city of Pamplona and opened fire.
Roel Degamo, governor of Negros Oriental province, and five others were killed in the shooting, his widow said.
“Governor Degamo didn’t deserve such a death. He served his constituents on a Saturday,” Janice Degamo, who is also the mayor of Pamplona, said in a video posted to Facebook.
Police said in a statement on Saturday that the condition of the hospitalized victims was unknown.
Degamo, 56, is the latest to be targeted in the long history of attacks on politicians in the Philippines, and is at least the third to be shot since last year’s local elections.
President Ferdinand Marcos condemned what he described as the “murder” of political ally Degamo and promised to bring justice to his killers quickly.
Last month, the Supreme Court declared Degamo the rightful winner of the contest for governor of Negros Oriental after a recount that unseated his local rival, who had previously been declared the winner.
Attacks on politicians
Mamintal Adiong, governor of the southern province of Lanao del Sur, was shot and wounded in February in an attack that killed his driver and three police escorts.
That same month, the vice mayor of the northern city of Aparri, Rommel Alameda, and five other people traveling with him were shot dead in an ambush on the highway.
The leaders of a powerful southern clan and about two dozen followers were sentenced to life in prison for a 2009 attack on supporters of a gubernatorial election rival in Maguindanao province. The attack killed 58 people, including the politician’s wife and relatives, along with 32 journalists and media workers.