Roel Degamo, a 56-year-old provincial governor in the Philippines, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in his own home in the town of Pamplona in Negros Oriental province, central Philippines, on Saturday. His wife and mayor of Pamplona, Janice Degamo, confirmed in a video posted on social media that the governor was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital where he was transported, and at least five other people were killed in the attack. Police spokesperson Gerard Ace Pelare told the Inquirer that the governor had suffered gunshot wounds in different parts of his body, which cost him his life, while several people who were with him (an unspecified number) were injured.
Degamo lost the provincial elections last May, but the Supreme Court declared him the winner in October after a recount that discounted fraudulent votes. He is the second high-profile politician to be assassinated in the Philippines this year, after the shooting death in February of Rommel Alameda, vice mayor of Aparri, in a roadside ambush that killed five other people traveling with him. In the same month, the governor of the southern province of Lanao del Sur, Mamintal Adiong, was shot and wounded but survived the attack in which his driver and three police escorts were killed.