Police clueless on murder of LP member in Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The police is still clueless on who could have pulled off the murder here late Wednesday of a Liberal Party member based in Buldon town in Maguindanao.

The victim, Macawali Saranga, 38, aspiring for a seat in the municipal council of Buldon in the first district of Maguindanao, was attacked while at one spot in a busy intersection near the Cotabato City plaza.

Senior Superintendent Raul Supiter, director of the Cotabato City police, said there are indications that the murder of Saranga could be related to hometown politics, or a possible involvement in a “rido.”

The term rido means clan war in dialects of most Southern ethno-linguistic groups.

The victim was in the city to attend to a relative confined at a hospital not far from where he was shot dead.

Saranga was killed hours after LP’s presidential bet, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, toured Cotabato City for dialogues with supporters and local members of the administration party.

Supiter had called on the victim’s relatives to help the police identify his killer.