Murder of Moro barangay chairman aspirant feared to spark "rido"
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 12:45 PM Wed Aug 30, 2023
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By:
John Felix Unson
Haron Dimalanis was killed just minutes after he had filed his candidacy for barangay chairman. (From Midsayap MPS)
COTABATO CITY - Local officials have urged relatives of the Moro leader aspiring for barangay chairman in Malingao in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area to help put closure to his death on Tuesday in the hands of suspected guns-for-hire and avoid retaliation that can spark a bloody clan war.
For the police and military, solving the brutal murder of Haron Dimalanis in Midsayap, North Cotabato is not easy owing to his being a resident of an area under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao but is located in a municipality in Administrative Region 12.
"Extensive coordinations have to be done in investigating the incident. Even so, we in Midsayap, which is under Region 12, are doing our best in helping resolve that incident," Midsayap Mayor Rolly C. Sacdalan said Wednesday.
Dimalanis had just filed his certificate of candidacy for chairman of Barangay Malingao when he was killed by men with .45 caliber pistols just a few meters away from the office of the municipal election officer of Midsayap.
The driver of Dimalanis, Habir Kambiong, was wounded in the incident, now recuperating in a hospital, guarded by personnel of the Midsayap Municipal Police Station.
Barangay Malingao in Midsayap is one of the 63 Bangsamoro barangays in different towns in North Cotabato grouped together as SGA-BARMM, being managed by an administrator under the autonomous regional government.
Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office-12, and his counterpart in BARMM, Brig. Gen. Allan C. Nobleza, separately told reporters intelligence units under them are to help the Midsayap municipal police and Sacdalan, who is chairman of the municipal peace and order council, identify the gunmen who killed Dimalanis.
Col. Harold Ramos, North Cotabato provincial police, said Wednesday they have received information from barangay officials in Midsayap hinting that there are Moro families in Malingao opposing the candidacy of Dimalanis for barangay chairman.