CAUGHT ON CAMERA. A screenshot of the security camera footage shows independent mayoralty candidate George Matunog (in red shirt) moments before he was shot at close range in Barangay Southwestern Poblacion, Calamba, Misamis Occidental on Sunday (March 13, 2022). He is now in stable condition. (Contributed photo)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A mayoral candidate of Calamba, Misamis Occidental survived an assassination attempt by a motorcycle-riding gunman on Sunday.
Lt. Col. Michelle Olaivar, Police Regional Office-10 spokesperson, said George Matunog Jr., 55, is in stable condition at Mayor Hilarion A. Ramiro Sr. Medical Center in Ozamiz City.
The bullet pierced his nape and exited through the right portion of his cheek.
A Quick Response Team vehicle of the Calamba police station first took the victim to Calamba District Hospital.
The security camera footage showed Matunog was walking along a main road in Purok 1 of Barangay Southwestern Poblacion when shot at close range by a back-rider of a motorcycle that sped by.
Matunog, with a male companion, came from the opening of a well-known convenience store and was on his way home, according to Staff Sgt. Alice Bacarat of the Calamba police station via text message.
"We confirm that the video circulating online [was of Matunog’s attempted slay] but we don't know yet who circulated the video," Olaivar said in a statement.
Matunog, an independent candidate, has been endorsed by Representative Diego Ty of the province’s First District and is under the coalition of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte's UniTeam.
Authorities were also checking the surveillance camera footage of said convenience store as well as of the other establishments near the shooting site.
On February 27, Mayor Filipina Grace America of Infanta, Quezon also survived an ambush as she boarded her vehicle after hearing Mass. (With reports from Nef Luczon/PNA)
