MALOLOS CITY—A Bulacan provincial board member survived an ambush in Plaridel town last week and is said to be in stable condition in a hospital in Metro Manila.
Police identified the victim as Mark Cholo Violago, an ex-officio provincial board member representing the Association of Barangay Captains (ABCs) in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Bulacan.
Violago is the son of San Rafael town Vice-Mayor Cipriano Violago. The younger Violago was elected chairman of Barangay San Roque in the said town in 2010 and later as the town’s ABC chair.
Police sources who asked not to be named said that the younger Violago was hit in the leg after armed men sprayed bullets on his Hyundai Starex van with license plates CHO 45 along the Plaridel by-pass road in Barangay Banga 1st, Plaridel town around 1:50 p.m. on Friday.
Police said they are still trying to identify the motive in the ambush.
As this developed, Ramon Posadas, a provincial board member from Plaridel town said Violago is now in safe condition.
“Okey na si Cholo, safe na,” Posadas said in a telephone interview after confirming the incident.
He said that Violago was first rushed to the Our Lady of Mercy General Hospital in Pulilan town and was later transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital in Metro Manila.
Posadas said that he cannot ascertain if Violago was alone during the incident but sources said that he was with a driver.
“There are times he would drive alone, but lately, he has bodyguards with him,” Posadas said.
Last month, Violago was implicated in an alleged torture of a 14-year old boy in San Rafael town, and a month before, his three security men were also implicated in the killing of Renato Ignacio, the younger brother of a police officer in San Rafael town killed early this year.
Violago is the second Bulacan provincial board member to be involved in a gun related violence this year.
Last February, Romeo Allan Robes of San Jose Del Monte City was involved in the shooting of the ex-boyfriend of former Quezon City Nannete Daza, his mother-in-law.
The incident led Robes to resign from his post as provincial board member representing the fourth district of Bulacan.
