While Norberto Lumbang, head of Barangay Laquios, Arayat miraculously survived the attack, Edgardo Macandili of Barangay 7, Tanauan, Batangas died.
Suspected communist rebels, numbering at least seven, fired at Lumbang’s Nissan Sentra in Barangay Muselo, Arayat town.
Lumbang, president of Arayat’s Association of Barangay Captains, was on his way to the poblacion (town proper) with companions Pepito Santiago and Jose Meneses when they were attacked.
Lumbang was hit in the abdomen and knee, and Santiago in one hand. Meneses, who was driving the Nissan Sentra, managed to jump out of the vehicle and was unharmed.
The gunmen, who were aboard a passenger jeepney with license plate CME-155, hastily fled toward Nueva Ecija.
Police found empty M-16, M-14 and caliber .45 shells at the ambush site.
Meanwhile, at least four gunmen, wearing ski masks, shot Macandili dead with M-16 Armalite rifles as he was boarding his Isuzu Fuego at the gasoline station he owned in Malvar town. — Arnell Ozaeta, Ric Sapnu