Cops still piecing ‘puzzle’ in murder of Maguindanao Sur vice mayor

Inquirer files

COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — Police were still trying to solve the “puzzle” surrounding the murder of Vice Mayor Roldan Benito of South Upi town in Maguindanao del Sur, who was killed on Friday along with his security aide in the town’s Barangay Pandan.

The vice mayor’s remains now lie in state at his home in Barangay Timanan as police continued its investigation to unravel the circumstances surrounding his ambush slay, said South Upi Mayor Reynalbert Insular.

Benito, 43, a respected leader of the indigenous Teduray tribe who was serving his first term, was a likely candidate for the town’s mayoralty post in the May 2025 elections as Insular, his party mate and friend, was serving his last term, according to Teduray leaders who talked to the Inquirer through Messenger on Sunday.

READ: Another Teduray leader slain in Maguindanao

Insular and Benito are allies of Maguindanao del Sur Gov. Bai Mariam Mangudadatu, wife of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Secretary Suharto Mangudadatu, a former governor of Sultan Kudarat.

“The police are trying to solve the puzzle surrounding the murder of Benito,” Insular told the Inquirer by phone, adding, “We give the police ample time to complete the puzzle.”

Insular said he would meet on Monday with both the local police and the military operating in Maguindanao del Sur for updates on their investigations into Benito’s killing.

Cowardly murder

The mayor said Benito’s wife, Analyn, the village chair of Pandan, who was wounded in the attack, was still being treated in an undisclosed hospital. Benito’s 11-year-old child was also injured when a group of five to seven armed men waylaid the vehicle driven by the vice mayor.

Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim expressed deep sadness over the “cowardly murder” of Benito.

“Vice Mayor Benito was not only a local official but also a leader of the Teduray people,” Ebrahim said. “We are one with our [Teduray] brothers and sisters in mourning the loss of a genuine advocate of human rights and inclusive governance,” he added.

“This senseless act of violence is a stark reminder of the challenges we face in our region. It is a direct attack on the progress we have made towards peace, unity and development. We cannot allow the perpetrators of this heinous crime to go unpunished,” he said.

Land dispute

Benito, who was a village councilman before he won as a town councilor in 2016, served for two terms before he was elected vice mayor in 2022, said Timuay Alim Bandara, a Teduray leader.

Benito’s parents, along with Teduray tribe members, were beneficiaries of about a thousand hectares of land in Sitio Bahar, Barangay Pandan, in the 1970s during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., father and namesake of the current President, under the Presidential Assistance on National Minorities (Panamin) before South Upi was carved out of Upi town of the then undivided Maguindanao province, according to Bandara and Timuay Labi Leticio Datuwata, the supreme leader of the Timuay Justice and Governance of the Teduray-Lambangian tribe.

Datuwata said the Panamin land, which had been integrated into their ancestral domain claim, had been the site of off-and-on land conflict in the area that had caused the death of Benito’s elder brother in 1991.

He called on the authorities to conduct a swift, thorough and impartial investigation and bring the culprits to justice.