By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A local landowner managed to escape an assassination attempt after his vehicle was shot twice by still unidentified gunmen in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Bacolod City yesterday afternoon.

The shooting also hit a parked van owned by Negros Occidental’s Valladolid Vice Mayor Roel Yogore.

Police have yet to identify the landowner as of press time.

However, Watchmen Daily Journal managed to identify the alleged target of the assassination attempt as 72-year-old Cesar Nerphiol.

According to a statement given by Nerphiol’s manager, they were about to leave the parking lot when their sports utility vehicle was suddenly struck by the gunmen.

His driver’s side window was smashed due to the shooting, while Yogore’s van was also struck by stray bullets.

Other witnesses to the shooting claim they saw the gunmen flee south along Palanca Street.

Nerphiol suffered a minor scratch on his nose due to the shuttered glass pieces.

Yogore’s driver, who laid down on his seat inside the van during the shooting, was unharmed.

In a statement given by the vice mayor, he clarified he was not the target of the shooting.

He was thankful that his driver was unharmed in the incident.

Meanwhile, the mall’s security personnel and the police are already conducting a joint investigation, its management said./DGB, WDJ