Zambales town mayor survives ambush; cops investigating if gunmen are NPAs

IBA, Zambales — The vehicle carrying San Felipe town Mayor Carolyn Senador Farinas and two others was ambushed Monday morning by at least two gunmen in Barangay Farantal of the same town, wounding the driver, police said.

Mayor Farinas, a 52-year-old widow, and her staff member John Ray Ramil Feria, 23, were unscathed in the ambush that happened at 7:50 a.m. in front of the residence of one Tirso Guting on Mendaros Street.

However, police said that the driver of her silver Toyota Innova (SHW625) – Raul Rosete, 50 – sustained wounds in the face from broken class as bullets were fired into the windshield.

Police investigators said the gunmen were on board a green Kawasaki Fury motorcycle traveling the opposite direction.

After the attack, the gunmen drove away from the crime scene, abandoned their motorcycle and then completed their getaway in a rented passenger tricycle in Barangay Sindol, probers said.

Trike driver John Cristopher Farinas, 18, said he was forced to rent out his motorcycle because the men introduced themselves to him as New People’s Army (NPA) rebels and threatened to hurt him if he reports them to police.

Investigators have recovered the motorcycle with Plate No. 7939 UY for verification while teams have been deployed to track down the gunmen who fled in the direction of Sitio Tikub, Barangay Maloma in San Felipe.