CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Police and military authorities have joined hands in hunting down five armed men, who shot dead a Lanao del Sur town councilor and injured four others over the weekend.
Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, the commander of the 6th Infantry Division has directed the 6th Infantry Battalion based in Malabang, Lanao del Sur to provide assistance to the local police in pursuing the perpetrators of the murder of Councilor Nasiff Basil of Kapatagan town.
Basil and his companions paid a visit to the house of former Balabagan Mayor Amer Sampiano at about 1 p.m. Saturday when gunmen onboard a blue Toyota FX vehicle arrived and shot the unsuspecting victims.
Those injured were Alven Sampiano, Bibi Disalongan, Topa Disalongan and Bensuod Mangigin.
The suspects immediately fled from the area using the same vehicle, which they parked nearby.
Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on Sunday said that personnel of the Balabagan municipal police are now searching for the killers.
“The Malabang police has initial information on the suspects’ identities,” he said.
He added that the motive of the attack could be political since the meeting at Sampiano’s house was about the midterm national and local elections scheduled next year.
Mijares, however, said police probers are also looking into other possible motives like personal grudge and “rido” or clan war involving other Moro families in the area.
Both Mijares and Sobejana have appealed to the victim’s family not to take the law into their hands and allow police investigation to take its course. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
