Aspiring Maguindanao Sur village councilor slain in ambush

Maguindanao del Sur map. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

TACURONG CITY, Sultan Kudarat — A candidate for a seat in the village council of Poblacion Pandag in Pandag town, Maguindanao del Sur was killed Tuesday afternoon in an ambush in nearby Pres. Quirino town, Sultan Kudarat province.

Tayan Mamalinta, 50, was driving his motorbike along the national highway when ambushed around 3 p.m. by two gunmen on board another motorbike.

Major Davis Dulawan, Pres. Quirino police chief, said a manhunt had been launched.

Mamalinta is head of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) in Pandag Poblacion. UBJP is the political arm of erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Pandag is among the towns in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) classified by the police and Army as under “areas of grave concern” for the October 30 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.

Brigadier General Allan Nobleza, BARMM police director, said 32 towns and the 63 villages of  BARMM’s Special Geographic Area in North Cotabato have been classified as “areas of grave concern.”

As of Sept. 11, 22 election-related violence have been recorded in BARMM since the August 28 filing of COCs.

During the same period, police also arrested 11 persons for violation of the election gun ban across the region.

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