Pregnant teacher slain

BAGUIO CITY — Authorities are searching for unidentified gunmen who shot and killed a pregnant schoolteacher Saturday night while she was riding on the back of her husband’s motorcycle.

Maria Elaine Besas Valencia was seven months pregnant when she was attacked at approximately 8 p.m. along the highway in Barangay Bumagcat. Valencia, a resident of Barangay Pawa in Lagangilang, died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ilocos Sur.

According to police reports, Valencia and her husband were traveling in a convoy toward a bus station at the time of the shooting.

The husband told investigators that the suspects approached from their left side with their motorcycle lights turned off and opened fire.

Valencia sustained gunshot wounds to the left side of her body. She was initially rushed to a hospital in Bangued, Abra, before being transferred to a medical facility in Bantay, Ilocos Sur, where she was declared dead. Her husband was not reported injured.

Investigators recovered four spent .45-caliber bullet shells at the scene.

Police said they have yet to determine a motive or identify the “riding-in-tandem” suspects involved in the killing. Local authorities have launched a follow-up investigation to track down the assailants.