ARMM exec slain in Cotabato City shooting

COTABATO City, Philippines - An official of the Autonomous Region and Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) regional government was shot dead at the city's public market on Thursday afternoon.

The victim identified as Norodin Manalao, executive director of the ARMM's Regional Reconciliation and Unification Commission (RRUC), died from 11 gunshot wounds in the body.

Investigators said Manalao was in his vehicle, parked along a busy street, waiting for his wife at the city's public market when a lone gunman approached and shot him repeatedly at close range.

Investigators said that according to witnesses, the gunman casually walked away from the scene.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman condemned Manalao's murder.

Hataman also called on the Cotabato City police to investigate extensively on the identity of the killer and the motive for the attack.

Some 400 people have been killed by guns-for-hire in one attack after another in Cotabato City in the past four years. More than 90 percent of the crimes remain unsolved.

Hataman said Manalao was an efficient government worker, who helped his administration solve dozens of violent clan wars involving Moro families in the autonomous region.