Verbal tussle in bikini tilt leads to deaths of governor's son, 4 others

COTABATO CITY — A 23-year-old son of Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan and four others, among them a former provincial board member, were killed in separate but related shootouts here shortly before midnight Saturday.

The violence started when the governor’s son, Datu Hofer Ampatuan, had a heated altercation with a group during a bikini competition at the Pacific Heights Hotel.

The verbal tussle triggered a firefight, resulting in the deaths of Ampatuan and two spectators, identified as Jerry Adalin and Marlyn Chi. Ampatuan, who was shot in the abdomen, died while being treated at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC).

As Ampatuan’s relatives arrived at the hospital, they chanced upon Adalin’s father, Magno, a former three-term provincial board member, and traded shots with him.

The older Adalin and his other son, Nelson, were both killed in this second encounter, which sowed panic in the hospital.

The tension at the CRMC waned only after the Ampatuans brought out Hofer’s body to ferry it to their hometown of Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao, 54 kilometers southwest of this city.

Ampatuan is survived by his wife, Bai Ingrid, who belongs to the Sinsuat clan, also a Maguindanaoan royal family, and their four-month old son.

"It was a very sad and unfortunate incident because the Ampatuans and the Adalins are long-time friends. Worse, the hostilities stemmed only from a minor misunderstanding," said engineer Norie Unas, administrator and spokesman of the Maguindanao provincial government.

Unas said the Ampatuan family is now focusing attention on how to resolve the incident amicably.

Last April’s traditional wedding of Hofer Ampatuan and his wife was marred by a mortar blast just meters away from the venue inside the 32-hectare compound here of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Three soldiers securing the vicinity of the venue were wounded in the explosion, which the Army intelligence community blamed on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The Ampatuan clan has had a deep-seated animosity with the MILF, spawned by Gov. Ampatuan’s hardline policy in dealing with MILF forces in the province.

The governor survived three ambuscades by suspected MILF rebels last year.

Since 2000, MILF rebels have pounded the Ampatuans’ residence in Shariff Aguak over a dozen times with anti-tank B-40 rockets.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, said their commander, Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, has fielded soldiers to strategic spots here to prevent "third forces" from taking advantage of the situation to escalate the tension between the Ampatuans and the Adalins.