Cotabato City mayor, 6 others charged with attempt to kill vice mayor

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—After nearly a month of investigation, the Philippine National Police’s  Criminal Investigation and Detection Group filed charges of frustrated murder and attempted murder  against Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. and six other persons for a failed attempt on the life of Vice Mayor Muslimin Sema.

Superintendent Leo Quevedo, CIDG chief for Central Mindanao, said the charges were filed at the Department of Justice in Manila on Monday.

He identified Guiani’s co-respondents as Cotabato City Administrator Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, Councilor Graham Dumama, Association of Barangay Chairmen president Abdila Lim, Amil Sula, Omar Sayadi and Inspector Noel Gutierrez, chief of police station 2.

“The motive was to prevent Sema from running for mayor in 2013,” Quevedo said.

But for city administrator Sayadi, the charges were nothing but political harassment.

Sayadi said she and the other respondents had yet to receive copies of the criminal complaint.

“This is a political assault against the family, and I appeal to all our relatives to keep calm as we try to resolve the problem that is now before the DOJ,” Sayadi, speaking for the family, said.

The city administrator is a sister of the mayor, aunt of Dumama and wife of Omar Sayadi.

Sema, who is also chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front, survived the January 10 ambush near his residence on Don Gonzalo Javier St., Barangay Rosary Heights-7.

The vice mayor was injured in the attack, which was  carried out by a lone gunman, who was killed in the process by the official’s security escorts.

The incident prompted the police to form Task Force Sema, led by Senior Superintendent Robert Kiunisala, Central Mindanao police deputy director for operations.

“Testimonies and other evidences (sic) gathered by the CIDG pointed to the accused as among the suspects,” said Kiunisala.

He said the involvement of Gutierrez was traced through a cellular phone, allegedly recovered from the gunman, that the accused had refused to surrender to investigators.

Kiunisala maintained that the task force’s findings “have nothing personal,” saying the investigation was purely based on “testimonies and evidences  (sic) gathered, including that of the vice mayor.”

Citing witnesses’ accounts, Quevedo said the plot to kill Sema was made at the firing range owned by Sayadi in Barangay Poblacion 1.

Citing  witnesses, Quevedo said Sayadi, Guiani, Dumama, Lim and several others were at the firing range when Omar Sayadi, the city administrator’s husband, arrived, carrying a blue bag that contained a baby Armalite rifle with suppressor and fired it.

The same bag was recovered from the alleged gunman, Zermin Abdulla.

Sema, a three-term mayor before he ran and won for vice mayor in 2010, was heading home when ambushed. Sema’s escorts returned fire, hitting Abdulla in the head and body. A bag with a baby Armalite rifle inside was recovered from him along with identification cards, bullet proof vest and spent shells.

Earlier, the Sema-led city legislative council had passed a resolution that sought the intervention of President Benigno Aquino for the reorganization of the present security set-up in the city, which council members alleged was subservient to the city mayor’s office. The resolution recommended the relief of city police chief  Senior Supt. Danny Reyes and the pull-out of the Marine contingent under Colonel Doroteo Jose Jalandoni.