Neurologist survives attack in Cotabato City

COTABATO CITY—A neurologist here survived an ambush by motorcycle-riding gunmen while he was heading home from a hospital here Tuesday night, police said.

Senior Supt. Rolen Balquin, city police director, said doctor Remus Magabilen, 44, was driving his red Ford Explorer on Gutierrez Avenue when two men riding on a motorcycle drove near the doctor’s vehicle and opened fire at the doctor using .45 cal. pistols past 7 p.m.

Magabilen was wounded in the left arm and continued to drive toward Cotabato Regional and Medical Center.

The suspects, who were wearing bull caps, fled after the attack, which triggered a commotion along the busy avenue, the main road leading to the compound of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Witnesses said the doctor’s vehicle slammed into the gates of the hospital. Hospital security guards pulled him out of the car and carried him to the emergency room.

Police investigators remained clueless on the motive of the attack on Magabilen, a known civil society leader in the city.

He is the son of former Cotabato City health chief Dr. Romeo Magabilen.

The attack on Magabilen is the latest of many crimes that took place in the city’s busy streets.

A few days ago, a leader of a transport group was shot dead in front of Cotabato State College. The victim was driving his jeepney when shot. These happened despite the presence of a Marine contingent here to back the police in fighting crime. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao