Another village official in Parang, Maguindanao Norte slain in gun attack

COTABATO CITY --- Gunmen killed in an ambush on Sunday morning another barangay official in Polloc in Parang town in Maguindanao del Norte, the second since January.

Major Christopher Cabugwang, Parang municipal police chief, identified the fatalities as Abdulmalik Uban, village council member of Polloc who died instantly and his wife Salma Uban who expired in the hospital.

"They were shot by two gunmen along Rizal Avenue, Parang Public Market in Barnagay POblacion 2," Maj. Cabugwang said.

"A Special Investigation Task Force has already been organized, and it will be responsible for conducting a thorough investigation quickly and accurately identifying the suspects. The victims' families are assured that justice will be done and that it would devote all of its law enforcement resources to this case in order to hold those criminally liable," Cabugwang said in a statement.

"While the investigation is still on-going to determine the motive of the crime, let us help our authorities for possible information which will lead to the immediate identification of the suspects and their arrest," he added.

Police said Uban and his wife were together in their red car that two men approached and shot with pistols while maneuvering through a busy intersection in the town proper of Parang.

Security camera recordings obtained by probers from establishments in the premises of the ambush scene showed that the two gunmen took turns firing pistols at Uban, who was driving the vehicle.

The incident was preceded by the fatal ambush in late January of Abubacar Abdul, then incumbent barangay chairman of Polloc, the seaport capital of Maguindanao del Norte, about six kilometers west of Parang’s town proper. 

Abdul’s wife succumbed to bullet wounds in a hospital several days later.

The gun attack that resulted in the death of Abdul and his wife remained unsolved.