A provincial board member of Surigao del Sur was shot dead Sunday morning by two unidentified gunmen moments after coming out from a mass at St. Joseph the Worker Parish Church at Forest Drive Village in Barangay San Roque, Bislig City.

Bislig City is about 170 kilometers from Butuan City, Caraga region’s capital.

In a mobile phone interview, Chief Supt. Reynaldo S. Rafal, Caraga Police regional director, identified the victim as Rafael M. Viduya, 58, married and provincial board member from Surigao del Sur's second district.

Viduya was also a resident of Forest Drive Village, a former Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP) area in Barangay San Roque, Bislig City.

Rafal said Viduya’s assassins used .45 caliber pistols in the shooting.

Initial investigation conducted by Bislig City Police Office disclosed that as Viduya came out from the church after the Mass, the armed suspects approached him and shot him pointblank several times.

The gunmen immediately fled toward the southern part of Bislig City on board two motorcycles.

The victim was rushed to the Andres Soriano Memorial Cooperative Hospital in Barangay Cumawas, Bislig City but he was pronounced dead on arrival by the attending physicians.

According to Rafal, Viduya sustained five gunshot wounds in different parts of his body.

Recovered from the crime scene were seven fired cartridges from caliber .45 pistol.

Scene of the Crime Office (SOCO) operatives of Surigao del Sur Provincial Police Office are now assisting the personnel of the Bislig City Police Station in conducting thorough investigation, Rafal said. (BS/PIA-Caraga)

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