MANILA, April 22 -- An unidentified man Friday shot dead a gubernatorial candidate on the campaign trail in the Philippines in the village of Cabanatuan City, 60 miles (96 km) north of Manila. Incumbent city mayor Honorato Perez, a member of President Fidel Ramos' party, died on the way to a hospital.
A police officer also died on the scene, and two other men were seriously injured. Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III ordered the province's police force to conduct a thorough investigation and widespread manhunt. Commission on Elections Chairman Bernardo Pardo declared the entire province under Comelec control. He also ordered police to disarm all provincial guards after receiving reports that one of them shot Perez and his team. Police are looking into a possible political motive of the ambush. Perez' campaign group had a 'heated' argument with a team of his election rival, incumbent Governor Tomas Joson, on a highway 15 minutes before the killing, Alunan said. Alunan has ordered Joson 'to surrender' to police for questioning. Perez' death was the second election-related killing in the Southeast Asian country this year. Earlier, a congressional candidate in central Philippines was ambushed less than a mile away from the House of Representatives.
