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Mayor wounded, two dead in Philippine ambush

Communist guerrillas have wounded a town mayor and killed two of her aides in a pre-election ambush in the southern Philippines, police said on Sunday.

Ruth Guingona, a member of President Benigno Aquino’s Liberal Party whose husband is a former vice president, sustained wounds in her arms and feet in late Saturday’s attack on Mindanao island, police said.

“Ms Guingona was with six police escort on their way back from attending a town fiesta when they were ambushed by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels,” national police spokesman Generoso Cerbo told reporters.

Chief Superintendent Cerbo said the rebels fled after a 10-minute gunfight with the police. However, the mayor was safely retrieved only at dawn Sunday, hours after the attack, because the ambush site was in a remote area.

The mayor’s driver and another aide were killed, while one of the six policemen was wounded.

The attack came less than a month before local elections in May. NPA guerrillas often take advantage of election seasons to raise funds, by demanding protection money from candidates who want to campaign in areas under their control.

“We feel sorry about the incident, but Guingona was warned last week not to bring an armed security escort with her while on the campaign trail,” NPA spokesman George Madlos said, admitting the rebels staged the attack.

Guingona is seeking another term as mayor of Gingoog city in Mindanao, the country’s main southern island which is plagued by decades of communist and Muslim insurgencies.

She is married to former vice president Teofisto Guingona. Their son, also called Teofisto, is a member of the Philippine Senate. The Guingonas were not immediately available to comment on the attack.