Killers of Datu Saudi Ampatuan vice mayor identified

MAGUINDANAO --- The police assured to speedily prosecute guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front implicated in the murder on Sunday of Vice Mayor Anwar Sindatok of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town.Supt. Nixon Muksan, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, on Wednesday said investigators are now preparing criminal charges against the culprits.Von Al-Haq, spokesman of the MILF’s self-styled Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces confirmed to reporters early these week that several guerrillas were indeed involved in the atrocity, but declined to reveal their names pending the filing of criminal charges against them.Al-Haq said the suspects belong to the MILF’s 118thBase Command, touted as the largest rebel group in the second district of Maguindanao, led by Imam Wahid Tundok, a foreign-trained cleric.Talks have been spreading around since Monday purporting that the suspects killed Sindatuk on mere suspicion he helped the police locate their mayor, Samsudin Dimaukom, during an anti-narcotics operation that led to his death, along with nine others, in Barangay Old Bulatukan in Makilala, North Cotabato on October 28.President Rodrigo Duterte tagged Dimaukom a narco-politician, listed in Malacanang’s roster of large-scale drug-traffickers in the country, before the October 28 incident.Three of Dimaukom’s slain companions were closely related by blood to senior commanders in the MILF’s 118thBase Command, according to members of the municipal peace and order councils in Datu Saudi Ampatuan and nearby towns.Sindatok assumed as vice mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan after the death of Dimaukom, whose post was taken over by his spouse, Anida, the incumbent vice mayor of the municipality then, based on a rule of succession stipulated in the Local Government Code.Dimaukom and his wife were running mates when they aspired for Datu Saudi Ampatuan’s mayoral and vice mayoral post, respectively, during the May 9, 2016 elections.Muksan said investigators have enlisted the support of local religious leaders in putting up an airtight case against the killers of Sindatok.Sindatok assumed as vice mayor for being the top municipal councilor having garnered the highest number of votes from among aspirants for seats in the Sangguniang Bayan during the May local electoral exercise.Al-Haq said the MILF central leadership has deployed non-resident commanders in Datu Saudi to help defuse the brewing tension between relatives of Sindatok and the families of his killers. (John Felix Unson)