Cotabato City mayor succumbs to heart attack

Cotabato City Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. has passed away, the local government announced Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016. Relatives said he had suffered from complications secondary to diabetes. Vice Mayor Cynthia Guiani, the mayor’s sister, has taken over his duties. JAPAL ‘JOJO’ GUIANI FACEBOOK PAGE PHOTO

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Mayor Japal “Jojo” Juanday Guiani Jr. passed away early Thursday at a hospital in Davao City. He was 56.

An official statement of the Cotabato City Hall said Guaini succumbed to cardiac arrest.

The statement said Guiani’s body would be brought back to Cotabato and laid to rest, in accordance with the Muslim tradition of burying the dead, within 24 hours.

Guiani’s sister, Vice Mayor Cynthia has lately been performing as acting local chief executive while the city mayor was in hospital due to complication secondary to diabetes, a relative of the Guianis has said./rga