COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 29 August) – A would-be candidate for chairman of a barangay in Midsayap, Cotabato was gunned down before noon Tuesday outside the town hall where he was going to file his certificate of candidacy.
Killed was Haron Dimalanes, of Barangay Malingao in Midsayap, one of the 13 villages in the town that belong to the Special Geographic Area (SGA) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Local police said the victim was about to disembark from a vehicle when an unknown number of assailants opened fire using .45 caliber pistols based on the slugs recovered at the crime scene.
The gunmen managed to escape after the attack.
Dimalanes was rushed to a nearby hospital but died along the way.
The SGA covers a total of 63 barangays in the towns of Aleosan, Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pikit, and Pigcawayan in Cotabato that opted to join the autonomous region.
The elections for barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials will take place on October 30 this year. (Ferdinandh Cabrera/MindaNews)
