BARMM human rights lawyer escapes assassin's bullets

COTABATO CITY - Maguindanao provincial director of the Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission na si Atty. Ariff Lao, nakaligtas matapos pagbabarilin ang kanilang sasakyan matapos lamang itong bumili ng burger sa Sinsuat Avenue, bandang 7pm kanina.

Sa initial report, dalawang lalaking sakay ng motorsiklo ang dumating at pinaputukan si Lao subalit ito ay hindi tinamaan.

Kinumpirma ni Mayor Bruce Matabalao ang nasabing pangyayari.

Si Atty. Lao ay kamag anak ng asawa ni Mayor Matabalao.

“Luckily, his wife was unharmed,” Mayor Matabalao said.

The mayor said police have launched manhunt operation against the suspects who fled toward Gov. Gutierrez Avenue.

“He has no known enemies, he is very religious person, we are determining if the shooting was work related,” Matabalao said, adding that he has no sensational human rights case as of now.

“I believed in the capability of the police, we leave to them to take the necessary action,” he added in the vernacular.  

Investigation continues.

Below is the statement of BHRC on the incident.