Three killed during graduation ceremony in the Philippines

A former city mayor from the restive southern Filipino province of Basilan, along with her executive assistant and a university security guard, were killed in a shooting in the Philippine capital Manila.

The incident occurred at the Ateneo de Manila University before a graduation ceremony that was to be presided over by the Philippines Supreme Court chief justice.

Rose Furigay was a former city mayor in the southern province of Basilan. His daughter was graduating at the ceremony. She was wounded during the shooting but is reported to be in a “stable condition.”

The suspected gunman fled the campus by kicking a driver out of their car, later abandoning the vehicle, and then getting into a jeepney (the ubiquitous Filipino taxi bus).

Pursuing police eventually caught up with the man at a church where he was arrested without incident. The suspect was identified as Chao-Tiao Yumol.

Police seized two small guns and a silencer and have already volunteered that the alleged gunman and the former mayor had a “long history” of legal disputes.

Yumol was on bail over allegations of libel published on social media.

Rose Furigay’s executive assistant and a university security guard were also killed.

Her daughter was wounded and is in a “stable condition” in hospital, police said.

“We are quite distraught and bereaved by this occurrence,” Joy Belmonte, the mayor of a local government unit where the shooting happened, told AFP.

The alleged gunman fled the scene by forcing a driver out of their vehicle, before abandoning it and continuing his getaway in a jeepney, police said.

He was eventually detained near a church.

Police recovered two handguns and a silencer allegedly used by the suspect, who they identified as Chao-Tiao Yumol and said had a “long history” of legal disputes with Furigay.

Yumol was on bail for a cyber libel charge. He was paraded in front of the media at a police news conference, showing abrasions on his face.

AFP reports that school and university shootings are “rare in the Philippines despite its lax gun rules.”

But gun violence is more common during elections between political factions and politicians.

SOURCES: Reuters | AFP/Thai PBS World