BACOLOD CITY – A former Negros Occidental mayor was shot by a lone assailant as he was leaving a church in Iloilo City Wednesday night and died in a hospital five hours later, authorities said.

Superintendent Ricardo de la Paz, Western Visayas police operations chief, said former Pulupandan Mayor Luis Mondia Jr. was shot at close range as he and his wife Evelinda were leaving the Jaro Cathedral in Iloilo City at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Jaro police station commander Chief Inspector Orly Gabinete said the Mondia couple had just attended an Ash Wednesday mass and the former mayor was about to enter his red Mazda pickup when a lone gunman armed with .45 caliber pistol shot him in the left shoulder and the nape.

The gunman then escaped on a blue motorcycle, driven by his waiting companion, towards the back of the Jaro Cathedral, Gabinete added.

De la Paz said Mondia was rushed to the Iloilo Mission Hospital where he died at 11:35 p.m.

Gabinete said a civilian volunteer and several persons witnessed the shooting.

Gabinete said the witnesses described the gunman as chubby faced, with light brown skin, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, while his companion, who wore a blue shirt, was about 5 feet 4 inches.

The police recovered three empty shells of a .45 caliber pistol from the scene of the incident, De la Paz said.

Chief Superintendent Isagani Cuevas, Philippine National Police regional director, immediately ordered the creation of Special Investigation Task Group Mondia headed by De la Paz to oversee the investigation and the pursuit of the suspects.

The 53-year-old Mondia was running for mayor of Pulupandan against incumbent Mayor Magdaleno Peña, fueling speculation that the shooting could have been politically motivated.

Mondia filed his certificate of candidacy on November 30 to run for mayor of Pulupandan against Peña, who defeated his brother Samson Mondia for the mayoralty in 2007.

His sister, Gina Mondia Villanueva, 43, also filed her CoC to run for vice mayor against Peña’s brother-in-law incumbent Vice Mayor Antonio Suatengco.

Shortly after the 2007 polls, Peña was injured after he was ambushed in Pulupandan but two of his bodyguards were killed. The New People’s Army claimed responsibility for the ambush, but Peña claimed that the Mondia brothers were behind the attack. The Mondias, however, denied involvement in the attempt on Peña’s life.

Peña last night denied speculations that he was behind the shooting of the former mayor.

Samson Mondia last night said he would not issue a statement on the shooting of his brother.

The police and Commission on Elections had placed Pulupandan on their watchlist for having a history of having hotly contested polls.