Maguindanao provincial board member shot, wounded in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A member of the Maguindanao provincial board was shot and wounded by two men riding in tandem on a motorcycle here Sunday.

Supt. Rolen Balquin, city police director, said Boardmember Adnan Biruar was walking near his house on Mabini St. here around 7 a.m. when attacked.

Balquin said witnesses and relatives said the gunmen shot Biruar, 44, with handguns.

The official suffered from gunshot wounds in the arm and abdomen and was rushed to a hospital here. He was declared out of danger already, he said.

Balquin said investigators were trying to figure out the identities and the motive of the gunmen, who immediately fled after hitting the boardmember.

Biruar is chair of Maguindanao’s barangay (village) chairmen’s association and sits at the provincial board as ex-officio member.