INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MIDSAYAP, COTABATO — Along with several companions, Haron Dimalanis, 40, was taking lunch at the public plaza fronting the municipal hall here just before noon on Tuesday when two men approached them from outside the fence and started shooting.
After pumping several bullets, the two men, who were wearing ball caps and bonnets, then fled on a motorcycle.
Midsayap Mayor Rolly Sacdalan told local reporters in a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon that the gunmen were probably prompted to flee as gunshots were also heard from inside the town plaza.
Sacdalan said Dimalanis, whom he described as a “commander,” was hit on the right side of his body, while a companion, identified as Habir Kambiong, 27, was hit in the hip.
Both were rushed to a hospital less than a kilometer away where Dimalanis later died.
Sacdalan said Dimalanis’ companions told him the victim had filed a certificate of candidacy (CoC) for chairperson of Barangay Malingao in the upcoming village polls. He was awaiting others in his slate to finish filing their candidacies at the local office of the Commission on Elections inside the municipal hall compound.
Lt. Col. Peter Pinalgan Jr., Midsayap police chief, said scene-of-the-crime investigators found eight empty shells of caliber .45 pistol in the crime scene.
The attack happened amid a gun ban as part of security measures for the upcoming elections on October 30.
Sacdalan believed the assault on Dimalanis was related to the upcoming village elections, citing previous gun attacks in Malingao which were traced to local politics. He recalled that in 2019, a village official there was ambushed.
Sacdalan noted that Malingao has been listed in the areas of security concern for the police in relation to the village polls.
Although Malingao is among 13 Midsayap villages that joined the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019, Sacdalan said the filing of candidacies for elective officials there are still being catered in the town’s Comelec office until such time that these are organized into new municipalities.
After the incident, Sacdalan had ordered tighter security cordon for the municipal hall compound and the public plaza where aspiring village officials rest under the shaded areas while awaiting their turn to file for candidacies.
The mayor also ordered stricter watch on the checkpoints to deter the entry into the town of people carrying firearms.
“I have ordered stricter measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. Hundreds of aspirants are still to file their COCs in the coming four days, including aspirants from 13 villages that are now part of BARMM,” Sacdalan said.
In Datu Salibo town, Maguindanao del Sur, three police personnel were injured when members of the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) harassed their checkpoint on Monday night.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, BARMM police director, identified those wounded as Pat. Abdul Ali Lipuas, Pat. Alesona Makasandig, and Cpl. Fernan Andres, all belonging to the 1402nd Regional Mobile Force Company.
Nobleza, who visited the checkpoint on Tuesday, ordered greater coordination with the Army to bolster their security watch in the area.
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