7 in latest Maguindanao "rido" gun attacks charged
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 14:45 PM Thu Mar 17, 2022
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By:
John M. Unson
MATANOG, Maguindanao --- Seven residents here now face double murder and multiple frustrated murder charges for allegedly having killed a farmer and a three-year-old child in a gun attack last week that also hurt three others.
Col. Jibin Bongcayao, Maguindanao’s provincial police director, confirmed Thursday that criminal cases had been filed against the culprits.
Efforts to locate them are still underway, according to Bongcayao.
“That gruesome incident is obviously related to a `rido’ involving the families of the victims and their attackers,” Bongcayao said.
Rido means clan war in most southern Mindanao languages.
Two were killed, Broh Lumbos, 43, and his three-year-old nephew when the suspects, armed with M16 and .30 caliber Carbine rifles, attacked them at their yard in Barangay Langkong here.
The attack left Akmad Makaurao, 38, and two other children, both related to the slain Lumbos, wounded.
There is prevalence of rido in this town involving families that keep firearms --- for protection from enemies and as a status symbol.
Bongcayao said investigators in the Matanog Municipal Police Station have identified the seven suspects in the atrocity with the help of barangay officials and traditional Moro community leaders.
He declined to identify the suspects pending the release of warrants for their arrest. (John Unson)