Candidate for local position in Parang town wounded in ambush

MAGUINDANAO --- One of three candidates for local posts riding a car together was wounded in an ambush in Sultan Kudarat town Wednesday.Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao identified the victim as Khadafy Karudin Pendi, candidate for municipal councilor in Parang, Maguindanao.Pendi and two party mates, Amelia Abo and Hammy Macapeges Manabilang, were riding a car together en route to Cotabato City when gunmen on board another vehicle opened fire as they got close.Abo, an incumbent member of Sangguniang Bayan in Parang, also in the first district of Maguindanao, is aspiring for the vice mayoral post in the same town.Manabilang is a candidate for municipal councilor under the ticket of Abo and her running mate, Mimbalawag Mangutara, Jr., former regional budget officer of ARMM.Mijares said Pendi, who was wounded in the leg, was immediately rushed by responding policemen to a hospital.Local police probers said Pendi and companions were on their way to Cotabato City from Parang when their attackers shot their vehicle while maneuvering through a busy stretch of the highway in Marhaban area in Sultan Kudarat.The suspects managed to escape before responding police personnel and barangay tanods could reach the ambush scene.