Hunt on vs. killers of IP village councilor in Maguindanao Sur

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 30, 2024): Hunt on vs. killers of IP village councilor in Maguindanao Sur (By Edwin Fernandez)

AMBUSH SURVIVOR. A police officer interviews Ronald Angit, the injured driver of the slain village councilor Juanito Promboy, in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur, on Monday (April 29, 2024). Promboy is representative of the Teduray tribe in the village council. (Photo courtesy of Datu Hoffer MPS)

COTABATO CITY – Police are now tracking down two gunmen on a motorcycle who ambushed and killed a village councilor representing the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in Datu Hoffer town, Maguindanao del Sur, on Monday afternoon.

Lt. Albert Pansoy, town police chief, identified the victim as Timuay (IP senior ancestral leader) Juanito Promboy, 55, representing the IPs of Barangay Mother Tuayan.

“Promboy’s driver-companion, Ronald Angit of South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur, was injured in the 2 p.m. ambush that took place along a dirt road in Tuayan village,” Pansoy said in a report Tuesday.

Police officers rushed the two victims to the Maguindanao del Sur provincial hospital, but Promboy was pronounced dead on arrival.

Angit is still undergoing medical treatment, Pansoy said.

Meanwhile, a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), the provisional lawmaking body of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, has condemned Promboy’s killing.

“This attack on innocent tribal leaders and civilians from the Teduray tribe is a reprehensible act that must be strongly condemned,” said BTA parliament member Froilyn Mendoza, who represents the IPs in the regional parliament.

“We call on the authorities to swiftly investigate this cowardly attack and bring the perpetrators to justice,” she added.

Since 2018, at least 65 IP leaders and members have been killed in the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, as documented by Jen Cornelio of the Timuay Justice and Governance Group in Central Mindanao.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1223730