The P1 million bounty was offered by the governor in addition to the P200,000 off ered by Mayor Nerivi Martinez of Talavera town.
The victim, Mary Anne Hernandez, 38, was a resident of Talavera.
She was former executive secretary during the incumbency of ex-Gov. Aurelio Umali, husband of the incumbent governor.
Police report said Hernandez absorbed seven shots fired from a .45 pistol by a suspect at a gas station in Talavera about 6:30 p.m. Her husband, Carlito, 43, suffered two gunshot wounds but her two children, relatives and a maid, who were with her in a van, were unhurt.
The group was on the way home from Baguio City and stopped for gas refilling a few kilometers from their residence when two motorcycle-riding men arrived. One of the suspects alighted and immediately fired at Hernandez who was on the front seat.
“We are still in shock. I have mixed emotions of grief, horror and anger over what happened to Meanne. She was not just a government employee but was a mother to two children, a wife, a personal friend to me and my husband, and was a dedicated employee,” Umali said in a statement as she offered the reward money.
Senior Supt. Eliseo Tanding, director of the Nueva Ecija police, said he has created Task Group Hernandez to “look into the bottom of this, in order to put whoever is responsible behind the bars of justice”.
The task force is reviewing footages of CCTV’s in the area for possible leads into the identities of the two suspects responsible for the incident.
