Killing of 9 Moro men threatens Cotabato peace

KABACAN, COTABATO—Nine people, who were shot and killed near a university campus here on Aug. 26, did not know each other and were riding on separate motorcycles when they were stopped by gunmen on a busy provincial road.

The armed men asked the nine people to disembark and demanded to see their identification cards, according to a report of Habib Guiabar, who chairs the local monitoring team of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Guiabar, also the coordinator of the Kabacan area development coordinating office that oversees the seven Kabacan villages that joined the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said there were many people on the road but the armed men singled out the motorcycle riders.

One of the riders, who died instantly, was able to call his father minutes before they were shot.

“We are stopped by the police,” Katindig Kagayawon, 17, a student of Carmen National High School, told his father in Maguindanaoan.

“So, are you freed now?” the father asked. “No, because they are going to kill us,” the son replied.

Minutes later, the father heard eight gunshots.

Police Maj. Peter Pinalgan Jr., Kabacan police chief, said the police were still investigating.

“Based on witnesses’ account, the gunmen flagged down their motorcycles, about five motorcycles, and demanded identification cards. Then, suddenly, they were shot at close range,” he said.

Police Col. Henry Villar, Cotabato provincial police director, appealed to the public to refrain from insinuating or speculating about the motives behind the attack, “so as not to add fuel to the fire.”Moro people in the area ruled out “rido,” or family feud, in the killing. One of those executed was Benladin Dimanalao, son of former MILF fighter Andong Dimanalao.

“How can I continue to trust the government when one of those who were killed was my son?” the elder Dimanalao said.

Aside from Dimanalao and Kagayawon, also killed were Kors Salilangan, Sandigan Zailon, Romeo Balatamay, Naser Guiaman, Fahad Mandigan, Budsal Lipusan and Musaid Jaiden.

Top BARMM officials condemned the killing.

Bangsamoro Minister of Education Mohaqer Iqbal said only uniformed personnel from the police and the military could conduct a checkpoint and arm themselves with high-powered guns.Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of the Diocese of Kidapawan supported the BARMM’s call for an independent investigation of the killing.

“We call on everyone … to offer prayers for peace. May this incident not be the start of further violence,” he said. “We ask all our government leaders to do everything for justice to the victims and to exert all efforts to maintain peace among us.” —WITH REPORTS FROM JULIE ALIPALA AND EDWIN FERNANDEZ INQ