Top Maguindanao poll exec also election officer of violence-rocked town
Inquirer files
COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Erwin Garcia has designated provincial election supervisor of Maguindanao del Norte to directly run the municipal election office of violence-rocked Datu Odin Sinsuat town.
The designation of lawyer Mohammad Nabil Mutia as concurrent municipal election officer was done as the Comelec placed Datu Odin Sinsuat town under its direct control.
READ: Datu Odin Sinsuat now under Comelec control – Garcia
This followed the killing of lawyer Maceda Lidasan-Abo, and her husband, Jojo Abo, on March 26 along the national highway in Barangay Makir.
READ: Maguindanao poll exec, husband slain in ambush
Additional police personnel have been deployed in Datu Odin Sinsuat and more police checkpoints along portions of the Cotabato-Isulan highway have been set up since Friday, April 4.
The Comelec chief had said they do not intend to exercise their full power over the local government unit of Datu Odin Sinsuat despite being allowed by law.
“We can automatically take over the LGU since it was declared under Comelec control. But if we don’t find it necessary, we won’t take over the LGU,” Garcia told reporters in Manila.
Despite the presence of Philippine Marines, Army, police Special Action Force and so-called force multipliers, a series of gun attacks still occur in Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur and Cotabato City since April 1.
Abdul Mokamad, 73, a retired police officer, was gunned down by still unidentified gunmen in front of a grocery shop in Barangay Poblacion Dalican, Datu Odin Sinsuat at about 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 3, according to municipal police chief Lt. Col. Jackson Lopez.
Mokamad, a resident of Barangay Poblacion Dalican, was pronounced dead on arrival at the municipal hospital. A minor girl was slightly injured when hit by stray bullets.
The slain victim was seated in front of his stall inside the public market when shot by a still unidentified gunman.
In Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur, two students aged 23 years old, were killed in an ambush by still unidentified gunmen in Barangay Zapakan at about 2 p.m. on Friday, April 4, according to the town police chief, Lt. Argie Eyana.
In Guindulungan, Maguindanao del Sur, a five-year-old child was killed when unidentified gunmen ambush a mini-van in Barangay Macasampen at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1.
Col. Ryan Bobby Paloma, Maguindanao del Sur police director, said the woman driver and two other women were injured but the boy did not make it.
In Cotabato City, a 35-year-old woman named Nadine Tanghal, was shot dead by a still unidentified gunman who barged inside her boarding house in Barangay Rosary Heights 10 at about 1 a.m. on April 2.
Also on April 2, a couple who were vegetable vendors were killed along Jose Lim Street, Cotabato City at about 4 p.m.
Police said the suspects took the couple’s sling bag that contained their day’s earnings at the city’s mega market. They are residents of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.
On Saturday morning (April 5), a lady nurse who was heading for home from her duties at the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center was injured when shot along Oblate Drive, Barangay Rosary Heights No. 6 at 9 a.m.
All these happened amid the election gun ban.
