COTABATO CITY – Police formed a Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) to fast-track the investigation on the ambush slaying of Vice Mayor Roldan Benito of South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur.
Col. Roel Sermese, Maguindanao del Sur police director, said he heads the SITG-Benito, which has members from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Scene of the Crime Operatives, PNP Forensic Unit, and South Upi municipal police office.
“We already have persons of interest in this case, and we are running after them,” Sermese said during a phone interview Monday.
Earlier, Interior Sec. Benhur Abalos ordered the police to work with the Philippine Army in finding the perpetrators who killed Benito and his close aide.
Sermese said they are investigating several motives, and evidence gathering is ongoing.
“It could be a personal grudge or land conflict,” he said.
On Aug. 2, Benito was driving his orange Mitsubishi pick-up when he was waylaid by an undetermined number of gunmen at about 5 p.m. in Barangay Pandan, South Upi.
According to Mayor Reynalbert Insular, a close ally and friend of Benito, the latter has never mentioned anything about threats to his life or his family.
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim said the regional government is "deeply saddened and outraged by the cowardly attack on Benito."
“Benito was not only a local official but a leader of the Teduray people. We are one with our brothers and sisters from the indigenous peoples in mourning the loss of a genuine advocate of human rights and inclusive governance,” Ebrahim said in a statement Monday.
He described the incident as a direct attack on their progress towards peace, unity, and regional development. (PNA)
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