More cops deployed in Marawi

COTABATO CITY – Police deployed more operatives in Marawi City yesterday following the grenade attack on the house of a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official last Tuesday.

Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said investigators were still clueless on the identities of the two motorcycle-riding men who hurled the grenade at the yard of city election officer Diana Titiban.

"We have assigned security details to protect all (Comelec) personnel in Marawi City," Goltiao told The STAR.

No one was reported killed or injured in the attack, but the incident sowed panic in Marawi City, whose residents have grown familiar with political conflicts among Maranaw clans there and in surrounding towns in Lanao del Sur.

Four Maranaw leaders – Mamintal Adiong Jr., former Marawi City mayor Solitario Ali Omar, former Lanao del Sur congressmn Benasing Macarambon Jr., and re-electionist Gov. Alim Manalao – are vying for governor.

Sources in Lanao del Sur’s inter-agency, multisectoral provincial peace and order council said each of the four gubernatorial aspirants have supporters in local Moro secessionist factions.

Tension has also been high in Pagalungan, Maguindanao, where two clan members are vying for the mayoral post.

All of the other mayoral aspirants in Maguindanao’s 21 other towns are running under the banner of the Lakas-Christian, Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) virtually unopposed.

The two candidates for mayor of Pagalungan – Norodin Matalam and his nephew, Ohto Montawal – are both known to have armed supporters and are related to many secessionist rebels operating in their municipality.

Pagalungan residents have asked the police and the military to deploy troops in areas where the armed supporters of both politicians reside.

"There is no reason for the police not to have ample men in Pagalungan because it’s the only town in Maguindanao where there is a mayoral race. Tension has been high in the area since the two candidates for mayor filed their certificates of candidacy," said a Catholic priest, who asked not to be identified.