Bank exec ambushed near NBI

MANILA, Philippines - A branch manager of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) was killed in an ambush near the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters yesterday morning.

Rosemarie Gatan, 51, manager of BPI’s Padre Faura-Taft Avenue branch, died while undergoing treatment at the Medical Center Manila. She was shot under her left ear with a .38 caliber revolver, police investigators said.

Witnesses said Gatan was driving her silver Mazda CX7 sport utility vehicle (PVQ-172) along Taft Avenue just before 9 a.m. when a gunman on a motorcycle shot her in front of the Manila Cosmopolitan Church.

Gatan managed to drive until her car slammed into a concrete post in front of the NBI as her killer sped off toward the Liwasang Bonifacio area. The bank’s janitor, Joseph Ofracio, brought Gatan to the hospital.

Police investigators said they have yet to determine the motive for the killing.

Lawyer Andres Mendoza, a relative of the victim, said Gatan has no known enemies. Ofracio said the victim had just transferred to the Padre Faura branch shortly before Christmas last year and had not been involved in any trouble.