Shariff Aguak execs refute shooting frenzy accusations

MAGUINDANAO – Investigators are still clueless on who shot with assault rifles on Friday night the house in Shariff Aguak of a daughter of the late former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan, Sr.The incident is feared to escalate the political tension between the family of the former governor and rival relatives.

Ameera Ampatuan-Mamalapat, vice mayor of Saidona town in Maguindanao, blamed her cousin, Shariff Aguak Vice Mayor Akmad Ampatuan, for the shooting frenzy, which left her house riddled with bullets.Mamalapat is daughter of the erstwhile Maguindanao governor, who died of liver cancer last year while in detention for having allegedly masterminded the infamous Nov.23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre.The incumbent mayor of Shariff Aguak, Marop, is son of Ampatuan. They were running mates in the May 9 local polls.No one was hurt in the attack, but the bursts of automatic gunfire triggered panic among residents in Shariff Aguak.The Ampatuans on Tuesday denied over Cotabato City’s most popular radio outfit, the Catholic station dxMS, Mamalapat’s allegations purporting that it was the mayor’s men who shot her house with M-16 and M-14 assault rifles.Mayor Ampatuan told www.ndbcnews.com.ph via mobile phone that he and his father will not do anything that would sully their statures as the newly-elected leaders of the municipality.Shariff Aguak, the former capital of Maguindanao, was controlled politically by Mamalapat’s father for about two decades.Their clan, however, lost grip of the municipality as a consequence of the massacre incident, the country’s worst election-related violence ever. Naghirap kaming mangampanya noong nakaraang campaign period tapos ngayong nasa puwesto na kaming mag-ama sisirain lang namin ng ganoon ang bunga ng aming pagsisisikap? Common sense na lang. Hindi kami gagawa ng ganoon, said Mayor Ampatuan, a civil engineer by profession.Mayor Ampatuan defeated Mamalapat’s brother, Sajid, the late governor’s youngest son, during the May 9 mayoral race in Shariff Aguak.Chief Inspector Armando Liwan of the Shariff Aguak municipal police on Tuesday said they have no solid clues yet on the identities of the gunmen who opened fire at Mamalapa’s house.He said security in Shariff Aguak had been tightened after the incident. Checkpoints have been visible at opposite ends of the national highway straddling through the municipality, connecting the area to nearby Maguindanao towns.Liwan said probers should be given enough time to wind up with their efforts to determine who the culprits were.He said there are no corroborating proofs that could give credence to assertions that followers of the incumbent Shariff Aguak mayor were responsible for the atrocity.Lt. Col. Markton Abo, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said their intelligence units are now helping investigate on the incident. Our commander, Major Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr., do not want the situation to get complicated. Our role here is just to help investigate on the incident through intelligence efforts, nothing more, nothing less, Abo said.Abo urged the followers of both camps to refrain from using the Facebook in attacking each other while police probers are still investigating on the incident. That will only heighten the tension and worsen the factional divides among residents of Shariff Aguak. It is sinful for us, Muslims, to point accusing fingers without the benefit of an impartial probe, Abo said.

Abo said Army units in Shariff Aguak and nearby towns are now helping the police prevent a repeat of Friday’s shooting incident.