Maguindanao poll exec, husband slain in ambush
ASSASSIN’S TARGET Crime scene investigators check the vehicle of lawyer Bai Maceda Lidasan Abo, the municipal election officer of Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte, after an ambush on Wednesday. Abo and her husband, who was driving the vehicle, were killed in the attack. —Photo courtesy of DXMS Radyo Bida
COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — The municipal election officer of Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte province died along with her husband in an ambush in broad daylight on Wednesday.
According to lawyer Mohammad Nabil Mutia, provincial election supervisor of Maguindanao del Norte, lawyer Bai Maceda Lidasan Abo was attacked while she was on her way from this city to her office at Barangay Dalican in Datu Odin Sinsuat. She was aboard a Toyota Fortuner driven by her husband when waylaid along the national highway in Barangay Makir at 8:30 a.m.
The couple were taken to a hospital here where Abo’s husband, identified only as Jojo, was declared dead by attending doctors. Abo died two hours later while undergoing treatment.
READ: 7 dead, 7 injured in election-related incidents so far – PNP
Mutia condemned the attack against the election official whom he described as “a dedicated public servant.” He said they had no information whether Abo had received death threats prior to the attack.
Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, police director of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), immediately ordered a manhunt for the suspects with police troops trying to seal all entry and exit points in Datu Odin Sinsuat.
The attack came amid assurances by authorities and political aspirants in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte that the run-up to and conduct of the midterm elections will be peaceful and orderly.
Datu Odin Sinsuat town is among the areas included in the “red” category of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), meaning it requires close security watch.
‘Justice will be served’
In Manila, Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia denounced the attack and said he would recommend to the commission en banc to place Datu Odin Sinsuat under the poll body’s control.
When a local government unit is placed under Comelec control, the poll body may increase police and military presence, cancel gun ban exemptions, intensify the drive against loose firearms and set up more checkpoints, Garcia said.
“[Abo] is our election officer, a part of our family. We were very sad when we heard about [the incident],” he said.
Warning the culprits, Garcia said: “When your enemy is the law, you won’t easily avoid [it]. Somewhere, someday, justice will be served. Whether it will be the Comelec or the ordinary people who will be asking for justice, justice will be served.”
“Don’t ever injure, threaten or terrorize our officials, our voters, because the Comelec won’t allow it,” he added.
Garcia said he last met Abo on March 18 when he and other Comelec officials led the signing of a peace covenant among BARMM candidates running in the May 12 midterm polls.
During his visit, Garcia recalled, he received information that an election lawyer was killed and her fiancé was seriously injured after gunmen fired at their vehicle in Barangay Awang.
He said he was disappointed that the incidents of violence in the BARMM were occurring even as Muslim Filipinos mark the holy month of Ramadan.
The Comelec chief said Abo met with the provincial election supervisor on Tuesday, but she did not mention any security threat.
Request for security
Garcia said he also learned that Abo had requested for at least two security personnel. He is tracing which office received Abo’s request and why it was not immediately acted upon.
Garcia is expecting election-related tensions to rise as the campaign for local candidates starts on March 28.
Lt. Col. Jackson Lopez, Datu Odin Sinsuat police chief, sought the help of civilians who witnessed the crime to help the police identify the suspects.
Lopez said Abo and her husband were hit in the head and body. Investigators found empty shells for a .45 caliber pistol and M16 rifle at the crime scene.
After the first barrage of gunfire, according to Lopez, the driver was hit in the body, causing him to lose control of the vehicle that crashed into a roadside tree and a nearby store.
Witnesses, who asked not to be identified, said the suspects were seen waiting by the roadside and opened fire as Abo’s vehicle approached. They fled toward the direction of Cotabato City.
Wednesday’s ambush came a day after gunmen fired at a vehicle owned by the former village chief of Barangay Taviran also in Datu Odin Sinsuat. The driver and a passenger were wounded.
On March 17, lawyer Junisa Kimamao, counsel for the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, was killed in an ambush in Barangay Awang. Her fiancé is still recuperating in a local hospital.
‘Utterly inexcusable’
In a statement, BARMM interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua condemned Abo’s ambush.
“This act of violence, committed during the sacred month of Ramadan, a time for peace, restraint, and self-purification, is utterly inexcusable and goes against everything we believe in as Muslims,” Macacua said.
“There’s no place for criminals in BARMM, violence and evil deeds have no room in our society — not now, not ever,” he added.
According to the new regional government chief, BARMM is building a region rooted in justice, faith, and compassion, and those who choose to harm the innocent will be met with the full force of the law.
Datu Odin Sinsuat Mayor Lester Sinsuat also condemned the ambush and appealed to residents of Barangay Makir who witnessed the attack to help authorities identify the suspects.
He also called on the police and military to tighten security in the town to deter similar attacks.
