COTABATO CITY — Police authorities on Tuesday confirmed that the killing of a town councilor in Lanao del Sur over the weekend was triggered by a Moro clan war.
The confirmation came after two suspects in the killing of Kapatagan town councilor Nasiff Bansil and the wounding of four others voluntarily yielded to authorities.
As this developed, another councilor, Nonilon Pagrangan of Balabagan, sustained a leg injury in a shooting incident on Monday in what police believed to be an incident related to Bansil’s killing.
Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said Abdulazis Kusin Guiday Abdulkader and Alimparok Dumiar Pagrangan volunteered to yield on Sunday night and admitted to the shooting of Bansil.
The injured Pagrangan is a relative of the suspects in the murder of Bansil who are now under the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group – ARMM.
“It was a case of ‘rido’ (family feud) and we have steps to stop its cycle,” Mijares said in a statement.
He said Abdulkader and Pagrangan also have warrants of arrest for murder issued by a local court.
Both have admitted having participated in the shooting of Bansil in the town of Balabagan on Saturday afternoon. Four others were injured, all companions of the slain town councilor.
Soldiers and police officers found the suspects’ Tamaraw FX getaway vehicle n Barangay Sigpang, Kapatagan with blood stains, an indication the gunmen, who barged into the house of former Balabagan Mayor Hadji Amer Sampiano, were injured.
Police also learned that another suspect, Fahad Guiday Abdulkader, was killed and his body was turned over to his family. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
