Manila: A Filipino-Muslim rural doctor was shot dead by an assassin who posed as a patient in the southern Philippines, a senior official said.
“Dr Shahid Jaja Sinolinding was shot dead by a man who waited at the receiving room of the doctor’s clinic in Cotabato City on Tuesday,” said Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial.
“We condemn in strongest terms the murder of Dr Sinolinding,” Ubial added.
The assassin was not arrested because he sped away from the scene of the crime on a motorcycle. His name was not identified.
Sources said Sinolinding had received death threats before his assassination. No details were given.
“He is the second doctor in the rural areas to be murdered in two months,” Ubial said.
She referred to Dr Dreyfus Perlas who was shot dead at the back in Kapitagan, Lanao del Norte last March.
In 2012, Perlas became part of the government’s health programme called “Doctors should serve in the Barrios [rural areas]”.
Activists and professionals who criticise corrupt officials engaged in illegal activities in Philippine provinces — such as drugs, gambling, and logging — are regular targets of political killings in the Philippines.
