Ambushed Sarangani town mayor dies

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The mayor of Maitum town in Sarangani died early Saturday from cardiac arrest while being treated for gunshot wounds he sustained in an ambush late Friday.

Mayor George Perret and his wife, Elsie, were on their way home from a municipal event in the town proper of Maitum when gunmen, positioned at one side of the road, shot their Toyota Fortuner with assault rifles, wounding them both.

An aide of the couple was also wounded in the attack.

The hypertensive Perret, who was hit in the leg, died of cardiac arrest triggered by the sudden rise of his blood pressure while he was being treated.

Perret’s wife is now undergoing medication at a hospital in General Santos City.

Senior Inspector Arnold Montesa, chief of the Maitum municipal police, said investigators are still trying to determine the identities of the attackers and the motive for the attack.

Montesa said there is a possibility that the ambush was politically motivated. He did not elaborate.