Despite gun ban, deadly attacks continue in 2 Maguindanao provinces

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines – Deadly gun attacks have continued in two Maguindanao provinces which are included in the list of areas in the Bangsamoro region where a ban on carrying of firearms by civilians was ordered by the police due to escalating violence. 

One of the two deadly gun attacks on Monday, February 20, struck right smack in the heart of a Maguindanao del Norte town where the Philippine National Police (PNP) established its seat of command in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The shooting deaths also took place just two days after PNP chief Director General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. ordered a gun ban on civilians in the two Maguindanao provinces, Lanao del Sur, and Cotabato province where 63 villages are special geographic areas of the Bangsamoro region. 

The deadly attacks have persisted despite the ban, with one person shot and killed near the regional headquarters of the BARMM police. 

Police said 34-year-old Alingadi Macabanding was shot and killed in the village of Making in Parang town in Maguindanao del Norte, the seat of command of the PNP in the Muslim-majority Bangsamoro region.

Police said Macabanding, a resident of Barangay Rumidas in Buldon town, Maguindanao del Norte was riding at the back of a motorcycle along the Narciso Ramos Highway when he had a spat with the driver.

Investigators said the gunman stopped driving, alighted from the motorcycle, pulled out a gun, and shot Macabanding at point-blank range, killing his passenger on the spot.

Master Sergeant Khoemini Kasim of the Parang town police said crime scene investigators found empty shells from a caliber 45. pistol near the bloodied body of Macabanding which sprawled on the ground. 

Parang town police chief Major Christopher Cabugwang said investigators suspected that the killer and Macabanding were relatives.

The same day, 40-year-old farmer Sentro Omar was shot dead in Barangay Lambayao, Guindulungan in neighboring Maguindanao del Sur province. 

Town police chief Captain Albert Carillo said the killing took place at around noontime while Omar was busy tending to his coconut trees.

Police said the killer, who remains unidentified as of posting time, used a caliber 5.56 rifle in shooting Omar in the head and chest. The farmer died on the spot.

The PNP gun ban in the BARMM provinces took effect on Saturday, February 18, a day after the ambush of Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. as well as an increase in gun violence in Pikit, Cotabato, where even school children were killed and wounded by gunmen in separate attacks. 

Four of Adiong’s security aides, all policemen, were killed while two others in the governor’s group, including an Army soldier, were wounded.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed alarm over the escalating violence that saw children as among the victims. – Rappler.com