By Joel E. Zurbano

TWO gunmen shot and wounded Public Works Undersecretary Ramon Aquino and his bodyguard inside their sports utility vehicle in front of the agency?s central office in Port Area, Manila, at 3:15 p.m. yesterday.

Aquino, 54, was seated in the back of his black Toyota Fortuner when he was hit in the right shoulder and upper arm.

A bullet was embedded in his armpit, his aide Adora Sunga said. His bodyguard Tony Canaleta was shot in the face. Both were taken to Manila Doctors Hospital, where Aquino was declared out of danger.

The gunmen fired four times at the car at close range before fleeing on foot toward The Manila Hotel.

The front windows and the rear right window were shattered, but Aquino managed to get off and run to a parked ambulance.

Three empty .45-cal. shells were found at the gate of the building, but security guard Gildo Mendoz said he heard four gun shots.

Aquino?s driver, Victor Salonga, suffered a cut in the right cheek. He said the incident happened while they were about to leave the central office on their way to a meeting in Malaca?ang.

?Nabigla kami. Ni hindi ko nga nakita kung sino yung bumaril sa amin [We were taken by surprise. I didn?t even see who had shot us],? Salonga said.

Aquino handles all the agency?s projects in Central Luzon and heads the region?s bids and awards committee. He is also the chief-of-staff of Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

?In my 40 years in the service, this is the first time that a shooting incident happened here in the department,? Senior Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan said. He said Aquino had never mentioned any death threats.

Last week, the offices of Ebdane and Undersecretary Bashir Rasuman were ransacked by burglars, who took some personal effects, a .45-cal. pistol, a wrist watch, an iPod and a laptop computer. Ebdane said several documents were also missing.