CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao , Philippines – The campaign manager of two brothers running for mayor and vice mayor in a Maguindanao town was killed while 13 others were seriously wounded Wednesday night when three motorcycle-riding men lobbed grenades on a resort where they were planning a campaign sortie.
Montaser Sabal, a mayoral bet in Talitay town, and his running mate and brother Abraham, both survived the blast unscathed. But their campaign manager, Haron Kitong, was not as lucky.
The Sabals and their supporters were holding their meeting near the swimming pool of the Hill Side Resort, just a kilometer away from this Army camp, when the incident took place.
Superintendent Alex Lineses, acting provincial police director, said the Sabals and their supporters were discussing preparations for a political rally this Saturday when the grenades were tossed from outside the resort and landed near Kitong, killing him on the spot.
Lineses said he is certain that the bombing was politically motivated.
The 13 wounded supporters of the Sabals were rushed to nearby hospitals.
Lineses said there are five mayoral aspirants in Talitay, an impoverished town in the second district of Maguindanao, about 15 kilometers from Shariff Aguak, the provincial capital.
Montaser Sabal said he is convinced that one of his rivals could be behind the grenade throwing.
“We have asked the relatives of the victims not to put the law into their hands. We have asked them to let the police solve the crime and file criminal charges against the culprits,” Lineses said.
The incident triggered panic in villages around the resort, which is not far from the headquarters of the Philippine Air Force Tactical Operations Group 12 and the operations center of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
Lt. Col. Benjamin Hao, spokesman of the 6th ID, said Army intelligence units are now helping the police investigate the attack.
The attack came despite tight security imposed in Maguindanao after 57 people, at least 32 of them belonging to the media, were massacred there last November and the province remains under a state of emergency. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe