Zamboanga del Norte

Village chief, 4 family members killed in Zamboanga Norte ambush

Gualberto Laput

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Village chief, 4 family members killed in Zamboanga Norte ambush

AMBUSH. Police cordon off a bullet-riddled vehicle where a village chief and his family members are killed in an ambush in Pina, Sirawai town in Zamboanga del Norte on Thursday afternoon, January 26.

Sirawai Municipal Police Station

As fear and uncertainty spread throughout the community, military and police forces are swiftly deployed to the predominantly Muslim town of Sirawai in a bid to prevent further acts of violence or retaliation

DIPOLOG CITY, Philippines – Heavily armed men brutally killed a village chief and four of his loved ones in a cold-blooded ambush in Zamboanga del Norte province on Thursday afternoon, January 26. 

The attack, which also left two others wounded, took place in the remote village of Pina, located approximately 200 kilometers southwest of Dipolog City.

As fear and uncertainty spread throughout the community, military and police forces were swiftly deployed to the predominantly Muslim town of Sirawai in Zamboanga del Norte’s 3rd District, in a bid to prevent any further acts of violence or retaliation.

According to police reports, the armed group targeted barangay chairman Ali Manangca and his family members in a ruthless assault that shook the community to its core. 

The village chief, alongside his wife Anisa Jaji, Ani, Alfahad Manangca, and Shilben Musaddin Basa, were brutally killed in the attack.

Colonel Glenn Dulawan, commander of the Zamboanga del Norte Police Provincial Command, said two others in the barangay chairman’s group – Alwaf Basa Manangca and Norman Darus Tulino – survived the ambush.

The victims were traveling in a pick-up truck that was riddled with bullets on a road in Pina, indicating that the attackers used high-powered firearms and planned to kill everyone inside.

Dulawan said investigators have theorized that the ambush was carried out by a group with an old grudge against Manangca, the village chief of nearby Barangay Balubuan in Sirawai.

The tragic incident prompted a rapid response from troops from the Army’s 42nd Infantry Battalion, the Philippine National Police’s 905th Regional Mobile Force Battalion, and the Sirawai town police, who stepped up security measures in the town and launched pursuit operations to track down the perpetrators of this heinous crime. – Rappler.com

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