MANILA, Philippines – A barangay chairman committed suicide inside a church in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija on Wednesday morning.

An altar boy who witnessed the incident said barangay chairman Alfredo Cabiñan entered San Jose Cathedral at around 8 a.m.

The witness said Cabiñan first kneeled to pray and then shot himself in the head using his .45-caliber pistol.

Superintendent Peter Naboye, San Jose City chief of police, said Cabiñan was still in a kneeling position when they found his body.

An investigation was launched to determine what pushed Cabiñan to end his life. – report from Edwin Sevidal, dzMM