ARMM exec survives ambush

COTABATO CITY — The female chief of the oft-criticized Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) of Maguindanao survived an ambush here Tuesday night, a daring assassination attempt that instead left her driver dead and four others, including herself, seriously wounded.

Col. Tereso Badayos, chief of staff of the Second Marine Brigade, the lead unit here of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force, said Didaw Piang-Brahim, chief of PENRO-Maguindanao, which is under the jurisdiction of the natural resources department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

Brahim, her husband and other family members were on their way home from a mosque at Campo Muslim here aboard a pick-up truck when they were waylaid.

Brahim’s driver, Ismael Pendililang, died on the spot from bullet wounds in the head and chest.

Police identified the three others wounded in the ambush as Brahim’s husband, Abas, and companions Ilah Ampang and Abdulkadir Abdulkarim.

Badayos said Marine and Army personnel from the 6th Infantry Division are scouring the ambush scene and nearby communities in pursuit of the ambushers.

The ambush came just two days after suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels set off improvised explosives inside two moviehouses here which left one of the bombers dead and three civilians wounded.

The PENRO-Maguindanao has long been the subject of criticisms for its failure to stop the wanton illegal cutting of trees in the province’s remaining forest lands and watersheds.

The PAOCTF’s Marine-led Mindanao Area 1 Unit here and the 6th ID have intensified their inspection of vehicles entering the city from Maguindanao.

"Our units and the Marines in the city will not hesitate to use force against people who may have plans of disrupting the fragile peace in the province and in Cotabato City," said Brig. Gen. Roy Kyamko, 6th ID chief.