CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — A police official assigned to a drug rehabilitation center operated by the Philippine National Police (PNP) was killed and his teenaged female companion wounded when gunmen riding-in-tandem on a motorcycle opened fire at their vehicle in Barangay Dapdap, Mabalacat town, last Sunday.

Chief Superintendent Arturo G. Cacdac Jr., Police Regional Office 3 (PRO3) director, identified the fatality as Chief Inspector Manuel Cordoviz Chica, assigned to the Central Luzon Drug Rehabilitation Center (CLDRC).

He died on the spot due to severe loss of blood while his lady companion is currently recuperating from a gunshot wound at the Saint Raphael Hospital in Mabalacat, Cacdac said.

Initial investigation showed that the victims were on board an all-terrain vehicle traveling along Mawaque-Madapdap Road when the killers struck in Barangay Dapdap around 10 p.m.

Based on the evidence lifted at the scene, probers said the killers used a .9mm pistol in the attack and headed in the east direction during their getaway.

Cacdac instructed Senior Supt. Manuel Gaerlan, acting director of the Pampanga Police Office, to create special Task Force Chica to investigate the case much deeper.

Supt. Rolly Mendoza, Mabalacat police chief, did not give the identity of Chica’s wounded companion for security reasons.

Chica was previously assigned in different police stations in Pampanga and once held the position of chief of police in Sasmuan.

He also led anti-insurgency operations against the communist Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) when he was assigned to the Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) of Pampanga.

He later joined the Angeles City Police Office and was assigned as chief of the Investigation and Detective Management Bureau (IDMB) for a short period before being transferred to the CLDRC.

Seven fires broke out in Cavite in the first half of March, which is observed as Fire Prevention Month, authorities revealed Tuesday.

At least six residential and one commercial fire incidents were reported in the province from March 1 to 15, the Cavite Provincial Fire Operations Office said.

“There about seven fires in the area since March 1. We cannot make an official statement as the chief is not here at the moment, we have to get his go-signal yet,” said a woman fire officer, adding that the number does not include grass and rubbish fires.

The latest fire razed a two-storey residential house in Bacoor town while the biggest of them razed a so-called satellite market in Dasmariñas City.