ARMM executive gunned down

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A suspected hired killer gunned down a ranking official of the Regional Reconciliation and Unification Commission (RRUC) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in an eatery here yesterday.

The victim, Datu Asim Ebrahim, RRUC peace commissioner for Maguindanao, died on the spot from gunshot wounds in the head.

Police said Ebrahim was dining at the Arshed Restaurant along the busy Sinsuat Avenue when one of two men who approached him pulled out a caliber .45 pistol and shot him in the head, while the other man, also armed with a pistol, acted as a lookout.

The triggerman, Castro Esmael, 26, was arrested while attempting to escape by members of the Army’s Anti-Crime Task Force Tugis led by Col. Roy Galido.