Ex-Leyte mayor slain in ambush

KANANGA, Leyte — Residents of this Eastern Visayas town are mourning the death of their former three-term mayor who was killed in an ambush Sunday night.

Former mayor Eduardo Velarde Napari, 58, father of the incumbent mayor, Giovanni Ed Napari, was shot in the cheek, the bullet exiting through his neck. He served as mayor from 1987 to 1998.

Police said the elder Napari was on his way home after visiting some political allies in Barangay Naghalin when motorcycle-riding men waylaid him. The attack caused Napari’s Isuzu patrol to fall off the road.

This town is considered "rich" as it receives royalties from the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) which operates power plants in Barangay Tongonan. The plants supply electricity to Luzon, Mindanao and parts of the Visayas. — Roberto Dejon