Monday, January 12, 2009 Guv, bodyguard hurt in ambush
MASBATE Governor Elisa Kho and one of her security escorts were injured following an ambush staged by communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Cataingan town in the province before noon Sunday.
Police Provincial Director Reuben Theodore Sindac said the governor and her escort are safe from the minor injuries they incurred from the improvised bomb set off by the rebels.
Sindac said Kho’s convoy was on the way to Masbate City at 11:30 a.m. when two bombs exploded at the left shoulder of the national highway at the village of Gahit in Cataingan town.
“The governor was slightly wounded at her eyebrow caused by glass particles from the windshield of their vehicle which was shattered by the explosion. She and her escort are both safe now from harm at the Khokak beach resort,” he said.
He said pursuit operations are being waged by the police and their military counterpart against the perpetrators who fled after the explosions.
“Policemen from Palanas town immediately conducted blocking operations while elements from the 9th Infantry Battalion are conducting pursuit operations using two armored vehicles,” Sindac said.
Kho is the wife of former Masbate governor now Representative Antonio Kho who had been implicated in the murder of Representative Tito Espinosa in 1995 in what was said to be due to a political rivalry. The former governor was later cleared by a Quezon City court. (VR/Sunnex)
