MSU professor slain in General Santos

GENERAL SANTOS CITY –– A professor of the Mindanao State University (MSU) here was gunned down by motorcycle-riding gunmen Tuesday afternoon, a former colleague said.

Bangsamoro parliament member Aida Silongan said Mohammad Taha Abdulgapor was shot in front of the KCC Warehouse in Barangay Apopong past 4 p.m.

He was with an unnamed woman in the car, when the shooting took place.

Silongan said Abdulgapor was rushed to the Sarangani Bay Specialists Medical Center, where he died four hours later.

Silongan used to work for the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) where Abdulgapor is a top official.

Retired MSU Prof. Rufa Cagoco-Guiam said Abdulgapor taught at the Department of Islamic Studies under the College of Social Sciences and Humanities in MSU’s campus in General Santos City.

He was a member of the Board of Directors of the BDA and, concurrently, a member of the Local Monitoring Team (LMT) of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

BDA is the MILF’s development arm, while the LMT is part of the ceasefire mechanism of the Bangsamoro peace process.

Former MSU-General Santos chancellor Moner Bajunaid mourned the death of Abdulgapor, whom he described as “a nice guy.”

LZB