Killers of Datu Saudi Ampatuan vice mayor now detained

COTABATO CITY -- The leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is now in custody of guerillas implicated in the brutal murder of the vice mayor of the controversial Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.Members of the MILF’s central committee confirmed on Thursday that the seven suspects whom witnesses tagged as responsible for the death of Anwar Sindatok are now detained by their self-styled Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.One of the sources, Ghazali Jaafar, MILF’s first vice chairman, told reporters the suspects were turned in by Ustadz Wahid Tundok, the most senior guerilla commander in Datu Saudi Ampatuan.Jaafar declined to answer when asked if they will endorse the seven men to the police, which filed criminal charges against them a week after they killed Sindatok using handguns and assault rifles right in his house in Datu Saudi Ampatuan.A ceasefire accord crafted by government and MILF negotiators in Cagayan de Oro City in July 1997 enjoins both sides to cooperate in maintaining law and order in conflict flashpoint areas in the country’s southern provinces.Talks had earlier spread around claiming that the suspects killed Sindatok on mere suspicion that he helped the police locate their mayor, Samsudin Dimaukom, during an anti-narcotics operation that led to his death on October 28.President Rodrigo Duterte earlier tagged Dimaukom as among the politicians on Malacanang's list of large-scale drug-traffickers in the country.Three of Dimaukom's slain companions were closely related by blood to senior commanders in the MILF's Tundok-led 118th Base Command, according to members of the municipal peace and order councils in Datu Saudi Ampatuan and nearby towns.MILF sources said the seven gunmen who killed Sindatok were relatives of three of Dimaukom’s slain companions.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.The succession is based on a rule stated in the Local Government Code.Dimaukom and his wife were running mates when they aspired for Datu Saudi Ampatuan's mayoral and vice mayoral posts, respectively, during the May 9, 2016 elections.Sindatok assumed as vice mayor for being the top municipal councilor after Dimaukom’s wife took over the town’s mayoral post following his death in an alleged shootout with anti-narcotics agents in Makilala, North Cotabato on October 28.Sindatok garnered the highest number of votes from among aspirants for seats in the Sangguniang Bayan during the May local electoral exercise.The MILF central committee has deployed non-resident commanders to Datu Saudi to help defuse the brewing tension between relatives of Sindatok and the families of his killers.