Sarangani lady village chair slain in gun attack
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 09:00 AM Mon Apr 10, 2023
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez and John Unson
Police inspect the crime scene in front of the village hall. (Maitum PNP) /Policemen are still extracting information from relatives of Sarudin that could help solve her murder. (Photo from Hussain Abdulwahab)
KORONADAL CITY - A lady village chairperson in Sarangani province was killed by two gunmen riding tandem on motorbike on Sunday while she was walking near the village hall.
Police identified the victim as Chairperson Tonesa Sarudin of Barangay Mindupok, Maitum, Sarangani province. She died on the spot after she was shot by motorcycle–riding gunmen at a roadside fronting the Barangay Hall on Sunday.
A police report said Sarudin, 55, was walking beside the national highway at 9:55 a.m. when unidentified gunmen passed by her and opened fire.
She sustained gunshot wound in the head and died instantly, police said.
Colonel Nicomedes Olaivar Jr, Sarangani police provincial director, has directed Maj. Bernard Francia Jr, Maitum town police chief, to identify the perpetrators and bring them behind bars.
In radio interview, Francia said one of the possible motives in the gun attack was a “rido” (family feud) involving the victim’s family and another clan.
Sarangani provinces is part of the Soccsksargen Region or Region 12.
From January to March this year, gunmen had killed a barangay chairman in Parang town in Maguindanao del Norte and another in Datu Hoffer in Maguindanao del Sur, both in BARMM.
Sunday’s murder of Sarudin in Maitum was preceded by the fatal ambush the day before in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur of Danny Angkay, chairman of Barangay Salaman, Lebak, Sultan Kudarat.
Angkay died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds, sustained when men on motorcycles trailing behind his vehicle shot him as they got close.