Senior Superintendent Amerodin Hamdag, Maguindanao police director, said Datu Muin Mangelen, son of Paglat Mayor Conte Mangelen, and his bodyguard, Omar Lumambas, were on their way to the town proper on board a Yamaha DT motorcycle when they were fired upon with M-14 assault rifles.
Investigators said Mangelen and Lumambas died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds.
Muslim leaders in Paglat and neighboring towns suspect that the ambush was politically motivated.
Local officials said Mangelen’s father, a Moro warrior-turned-peace advocate, has many equally influential political rivals in Paglat, which was created only two years ago.
Paglat was carved out from the town of S.K. Pendatun, also in the second district of Maguindanao.
The provincial peace and order council, chaired by Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan, sent emissaries to the Mangelen clan yesterday to convince its members not to retaliate for the ambush-killing.
"Initially, we have assured the Mangelens that the police are doing their best to determine who could be responsible for the ambush for them to be prosecuted properly," said engineer Norie Unas, provincial administrator and Ampatuan’s official spokesman.