COTABATO CITY–A school principal barely cheated death following an ambush staged by a lone assailant Thursday in Pikit, North Cotabato, police said.
Supt. Bernard Tayong, North Cotabato provincial police spokesperson, identified the survivor as Ritchel Parreño, principal of the Bulol High School Annex of the Pikit National High School in Barangay Bulol.
Parreño had just left his house for school aboard his motorbike around 7 a.m. when approached by the still unidentified gunman along the road in adjacent Barangay Takepan, who fired at him using a .45 caliber pistol.
“Parreño was grazed by a bullet on his left forearm, but with an alert mind, managed to speed off from his would-be killer,” Tayong said in an interview over a local radio station.
Tayong said the victim went straight to the town proper where he sought the help of friends and police, who in turn, brought him to the hospital.
Chief Insp. Romy Castañares, Pikit police chief, in an initial report said the attempt on victim’s life could be “work-related,” although he emphasized that investigation is ongoing. (Noel Punzalan/PNA)
