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By EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
MANILA (SDN) — Vice President Sara Duterte today, February 18, condemned the ambush that she said “apparently targeted” Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal “Bombit” Alonto Adiong. Four of his security details were killed, while he and a staff were injured.
The ambush on Adiong, vice president for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), occured on Friday (February 17) Maguing municipality, while en route to Wao, both in Lanao del Sur province. Duterte, secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), president of Lakas-CMD).
“I condemn the ambush that apparently targeted Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong in the town of Maguing Friday. As a nation, we should collectively reject this cowardly act of violence and demand that the perpetrators are immediately brought to justice,” the Vice President said.
She emphasized that she commiserates with the families of the governor’s four security details killed in the ambush.
“I pray for the speedy recovery of Gov. Adiong and the other injured person. Adiong is Lakas-CMD vice president for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” Duterte said.
Over in the BARMM, the regional government also slammed the ambush perpetrated on a Friday, the day when a weekly Islamic prayer (Juma’ah prayer) is conducted.
“We condemn in the strongest possible words the ambush perpetrated against Governor Bombit Adiong and his companions yesterday that resulted in his injury and the death of four of his companions,” said lawyer Naguib G. Sinarimbo, spokesman of the Bangsamoro government under the leadership of Chief Minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim.
Adiong’s security details who were slain in the ambuscade were Police Staff Sergeant Mohammad Jurai Mipanga Adiong, 40; Police Corporal Johanie Lawi Sumandar, 39; and Police Corporal Jalil Ampuan Cosain, 40. His driver names only as Kobi was the fourth slain in the attack.
Adiong was hit in the hip. He his injured aide is Ali M. Tabao. They were brought to a hospital for treatment.
Sinarimbo, minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG), one of the BARMM’s primary organ of governance, expressed the BARMM’s sincere condolences and sympathy for the governor’s slain security escorts. “May Allah ease the burden of those they left behind and may they be granted the mercy of Allah.”
The Bangsamoro interior minister emphasized that “sort of violence has no place in our society.”
A day before the ambush on his convoy in the boundary of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon province, the Philippine National Police (PNP) had issued an upgraded alert status through its Police Regional Office Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO BAR) in three BARMM provinces, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, and the city of Cotabato (the seat of the Bangsamoro government).
The Bangsamoro region, established in 2018 by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), is made up of the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the cities of Cotabato, Lamitan, and Marawi, as well as the 63 barangays or villages dubbed Special Geographic Area (SGA) that voted “yes” in a plebiscite in February 2019 to be under the BARMM jurisdiction.
According to the Philippine Atlas has 4,404,288 people. It has 116 municipalities: Basilan, 11 municipalities; Lanao del Sur, 39; Maguindanao, 36; Sulu, 19; and Tawi-Tawi, 11. Its component cities are Cotabato (the regional center and capital) in Maguindanao; Lamitan in Basilan; and Marawi in Lanao del Sur.
Authorities have not yet established any motive for the attack on Adiong, but his brother, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia A. Adiong did not totally rule out a political motive, according to a news report. He stressed that their family is not involved in a “rido” (family feud).
Meanwhile, Sinarimbo said Saturday the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will help in the investigation of the incident. “There is already a direction that the senior commanders of the MILF and the peace mechanisms of the MILF… will convene tonight.”
He added that MILF Chairman Ebrahim already issued a directive to fully cooperate with the investigation. (✓)
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Sources: Office of Vice President Sara Duterte, Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG), Philippine Star, GMA News, Rappler.