<\/p>\n
RIZAL, Cagayan Mayor Joel Ruma on Wednesday night was shot dead by a still unidentified assailant during a campaign sortie, police said Thursday.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ruma was declared dead on arrival at the Tuao District Hospital.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two civilians identified as Merson Abiguebel and Melanie Talay were injured and are undergoing treatment at the same hospital.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The shooting occurred around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the barangay hall of Illuru Sur, where Ruma and his team were campaigning.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Authorities have yet to identify the suspects responsible for the fatal shooting.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Police Regional Office 2 (Cagayan Valley) Director Brig. Gen. Antonio Marallag Jr. has ordered pursuit operations against the suspects.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The official also directed the implementation of high-risk checkpoint operations in strategic areas across the region.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMariin naming kinokondena ang karahasang ito, lalo na sa panahong tayo ay naghahanda para sa mapayapang halalan 2025. Hindi kami titigil hangga\u2019t hindi namin naibibigay ang hustisya para sa mga biktima,\u201d Marallag said in a statement.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Philippine National Police (PNP) information chief Col. Randulf Tua\u00f1o said Ruma might have been shot by a sniper based on the recovered shell of an Armalite rifle at the crime scene.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLumalabas sa kanilang (police) initial investigation na isang tama lang mula sa isang sniper rifle ang ginamit magmula sa isang vantage point,\u201d Tua\u00f1o said in a media briefing at Camp Crame.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tua\u00f1o said the bullet entered Ruma\u2019s right shoulder and exited through his back, penetrating his whole body.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He said Ruma\u2019s security detail, composed of four cops, will undergo a paraffin test as the police also heard gunshots inside the barangay hall.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIfo-forensic din \u2018yung kanilang issued firearms para ma-determine natin kung sino possible na nakasugat sa mga ibang tao na wounded sa loob ng barangay,\u201d he added.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tua\u00f1o said the PRO 2 has activated a special investigation task group (SITG) to probe Ruma\u2019s killing.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The body will also also investigate whether the killing was politically-motivated.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The killing of Ruma occurred amid the stepped-up campaign by the Cagayan Valley police to account for loose firearms and private armed groups that may pose a threat to the holding of a peaceful and orderly May 12 National and Local Elections in the region.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" RIZAL, Cagayan Mayor Joel Ruma on Wednesday night was shot dead by a still unidentified assailant during a campaign sortie, police said Thursday. Ruma was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13351,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13349\/revisions\/13351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}