A city engineer in Bulacan who survived an ambush try by two still unidentified gunmen hinted Sunday that a local executive in the province may have been the architect of the failed attempt on his life last Thursday.
Engineer Rufino Gravador, speaking at his hospital for the first time after the ambush try, said he could not think of anybody else wanting him dead aside from the ranking official in San Jose del Monte City.
He said the local official wanted to silence him as he was a witness to a plunder case arising from the alleged overpriced construction of a government building in the city.
“He is angry at me,” Gravador told media who visited him at hospital.
Gravador was driving his blue Mitsubishi Montero (license plate RKE 377) when he was fired upon by two motorcycle-riding men while traversing a curved portion of Maharlika Highway in Barangay Bulac, Sta. Maria, Bulacan at about 5 p.m. Thursday.
Though wounded, he managed to drive his vehicle to a nearby hospital for treatment. He was later transferred to a medical facility in Metro Manila.
The victim was in stable condition recuperating from bullet wounds at his neck, and portion of his head he sustained during the attacked.
Gravador said he had received a threat (through text messages) from a still-unidentified person days before the attack.
Gravador’s legal counsel, Elmer Galicia, said his client has been receiving several death threats since he testified against the local official on alleged irregularities in the construction of the city hall.
Sensing that the threat on his life was serious, Gravador wrote letters, including last will and testament, stuffed inside his vehicle saying that if something happened to him, nobody would be responsible aside from the local official.
The same official made him city agriculturist instead in 2013 and 2014.
Meanwhile, San Jose Del Monte City Mayor Reynaldo San Pedro said Gravador’s ambush was staged, as perpetrated by his political.
“A certain group has been out to tarnish my name for a long time,” according to the mayor.