Councilor, wife slain before daughter in Teresa

TERESA, Rizal — What was supposed to be a happy occasion turned tragic, when unidentified gunmen ambushed and killed a municipal councilor and his wife just as they left their house in this town with their 20-year-old daughter to attend her graduation in Metro Manila yesterday morning.

The Rizal Police Provincial Office (PPO) confirmed the deaths of Councilor John “Antog” San Jose, 49, of this town, and his wife Maria Theresa while they were undergoing treatment for multiple bullet wounds in different parts of the body.

Probers said at least 26 shots from .45caliber and 9 mm pistols were fired into the victims’ maroon Mitsubishi Montero, with conduction sticker NJ 0671, at 7:30 a.m. just as they reached the approach to the bridge in Barangay May Iba.

Their daughter Jaydee Ansherina, 20, who was also aboard the vehicle, was unscathed.

Police said the gunmen, who rode on motorbikes, were strategically-positioned and had shot into the Montero from both sides of the vehicle. They fled the scene in the direction of Sitio Abuyod, Barangay Dalig, here.

Malou Crisologo, a board secretary at the Sangguniang Bayan (SB or Municipal Council), said Councilor San Jose was a second-termer, very active in the council, and chaired the Committee on Health and Environment.

Flags have been raised at half-mast in this town to mourn his death, as police investigators worked on tracking down the suspects and establishing the motive in the attack.