‘Kin’ of 2 slain men torch mayor’s house

COTABATO CITY — Apparently in retaliation, suspected relatives of two Muslims gunned down in Intramuros, Manila last Monday, set on fire the house of a mayor who belongs to a rival clan in nearby Parang, Maguindanao the other night.

Parang Mayor Vivencio Bataga said the Intramuros killing and the burning of the house of Mayor Nasser Imam of Matanog town have worsened the animosity between the Imam and the Macapeges clans.

Imam’s wife, Bai Rakma Ambolodto-Imam, said their house in Parang was torched after she denied insinuations, in an interview with Catholic radio station dxMS, that their family could be involved in the fatal shooting of cousins Felix Lidasan and Armando Macapeges near the Manila Cathedral.

Macapeges’ brother Jamal, a former provincial board member of Maguindanao, was wounded in the attack.

Lidasan and the Macapeges brothers had just come from the Commission on Elections in Intramuros to follow up an electoral protest against Mayor Imam when a gunman approached them from behind and opened fire.

Responding policemen later arrested the suspect, 22-year-old Usop Camid, after a brief chase that ended near Jones Bridge.

Camid told probers that he shot the three men because of a long-standing feud between his family and theirs.

The father of Armando and Jamal, Hadji Kahir, ran against re-electionist Imam in the Matanog polls last year.

Bataga said he has asked the Marines and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division to deploy more men and armored vehicles in Parang to prevent more violence between the Imam and Macapeges clans.

Imam survived an ambush last April.