Maguindanao vice mayor shot dead

TACURONG CITY—Unidentified men shot dead on Sunday morning the newly installed vice mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao, police said.

Senior Insp. Rasul Pandulo, Maguindanao police spokesperson, identified the victim as Anwar Sindatuk, the town’s No. 1 elected councilor.

Sindatuk assumed the post of Vice Mayor Anida Dimaukom whose husband, Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom, was killed in an alleged police shootout in North Cotabato last month.

Initial police report showed that Sindatuk was inside his residence talking with visitors over coffee when someone pulled out a gun and shot him at close range.

Sinadtuk died on the spot.

He just assumed the post of vice mayor after Vice Mayor Dimaukom took the place of her husband.

Mayor Dimaukom was killed along with nine others in an anti-illegal drugs operation in Makilala, North Cotabato, on Oct. 28.

Dimaukom was publicly named by President Duterte in August as among more than 150 former and current government officials and policemen linked to drugs.

Police said that Dimaukom and his men were transporting “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) to Maguindanao from Davao City on three vehicles when they were flagged down at a checkpoint. —WITH INQUIRER RESEARCH/rga