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By EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — Scitech and Digital News
COTABATO CITY — Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod B. “Al-Hajj Murad” Ebrahim visited Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal “Bombit” Alonto Adiong, Jr. today, Sunday, showing he cares as he assured the pursuit of justice.
Top officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) accompanied Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the visit at a hospital in Cagayan de Oro City.
The Chief Minister’s party included BARMM Senior Minister Abdulraof “Sammy Gambar” A. Macacua, chief of staff of MILF; Minister Naguib G. Sinarimbo of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG); and Minister Akmad Ebrahim of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENRE).
Ebrahim and his fellow BARMM officials traveled to Cagayan de Oro City following the ambush on February 17 in the shared boundaries of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon. The governor and his security escorts were then traversing the highway on their way to Wao, one of the municipalities of Lanao del Sur.
Adiong was wounded along with his staff, Ali M. Tabao. But the governor’s three Philippine National Police (PNP) security details were killed in the hail of gunfire — Staff Sgt. Mohammad Jurai Adiong, Cpl. Johanie Sumandar, and Cpl. Jalil Cosain. The fourth fatality was his driver known only as “Kobi”.
He and his aide were brought to a hospital where they were treated. He was later transferred too a hospital in Cagayan de Oro City.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) headed by Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos, Jr. responded with an order on the PNP to mount a pursuit of the unidentified attackers. “I strongly condemn the ambush on Governor Bombit and his staff. I directed the PNP to conduct a manhunt operation to quickly get the suspects who staged the attack,” he said in Pilipino.
Sinarimbo, spokesman of BARMM, told SDN — SciTech and Digital News the Chief Minister made the visit “to personally express his condemnation of the incident and sympathize with the Alonto-Adiong Clan, a long time supporter of the Bangsamoro struggle for the to self-determination.”
VP Sara Duterte, DILG, MILG, LPP condemn ambush against Adiong
The MILG head said Ebrahim “also talked personally to the families of the victims who died in the incident.”
Ebrahim “committed to pursue justice for them (victims’ families) using both the BARMM and the MILF mechanisms.”
As head of the MILG, Sinarimbo also told Adiong the ministry’s resolve to pursue justice. “We are committed to ensuring justice will be secured for the victims.
The ambush against Adiong, who was hit in the hip, also elicited a message from Vice President Sara Duterte, also the secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).
“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 be immediately brought to justice,” the Vice President said.
The MILG also issued a statement a day after the incident, condemning the ambush. “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.”
On the other hand, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) urged the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to hasten the investigation of the daylight ambush and “make those responsible for the dastard act be made accountable the soonest time.”
Relatives of the governor were reported to have said the possible motive for the ambush could Adiong’s campaign against illegal drugs. (✓)