"A brazen act of violence."
Basilan lone district Rep. Mujiv Hataman (Facebook)
That's how House Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan lone district Rep. Mujiv Hataman described on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 18 the attempted assassination on Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr.
Adiong and his aide were left wounded during the ambush Friday afternoon, Feb. 17 near the boundary of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon. Four of the governor's bodyguards were slain.
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms the ambush that left Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. and his aide wounded, and killed four members of his convoy last Friday afternoon," Hataman said in a statement.
"This attack was a brazen act of violence, perpetrated against no less than the highest local executive official of the province of Lanao del Sur and his companions," he said.
At the same time, Hataman, a former governor of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), expressed concern over the spate of violent incidents down south.
These include the successive killings in Pikit, Cotabato, the latest victim of which was a 13-year-old pupil; the ambush and killing of a Marine sergeant and Philippine National Police (PNP) official in Lanao del Sur; and the hostage 39 members of the Philippine Army, also in Lanao del Sur.
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"These are only a few of the incidents out of the many that occurred in the past few months," Hataman said.
"I call on the law enforcement agencies to identify and arrest the perpetrators of these incidents. Lalo na't ang biktima ay mga bata, mga LGU (local government unit) officials at mga tagapagpatupad ng ating batas (Especially since the victims are children, LGU officials, and law enforcers)," he said.
The Mindanaoan said that perpetrators "must be brought to justice in these cases, lest we give them an impression that the law cannot punish them".