Candaos seek Palace help on clan wars

Convinced that politics could be the only motive for last Monday’s brutal killing in Cotabato City of their acknowledged patriarch, Datu Abdulkadir, the influential Candao clan of Maguindanao called on President Arroyo yesterday to immediately intervene in the continuing violence among local clans and their supporters.

Speaking on her clan’s behalf, Bai Maleiha Candao-Ulangkaya, daughter of former Maguindanao Gov. Zacaria Candao, said his 64-year-old uncle, fondly called Peping, had no known personal enemies.

Datu Abdulkadir, who was among the pioneer commanders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Central Mindanao in the early 1970s, was the security director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao when Zacaria, a lawyer, was governor from 1990 to 1993.

"There has been a spate of incidents indicating that the threats on our lives have been mounting," Bai Maleiha told dxMS, a radio station of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Cotabato City.

Bai Maleiha said the murder of his uncle by motorcycle-riding gunmen near the premises of the Oblates-owned Notre Dame University in Cotabato City, was preceded by the mysterious disappearance last year at the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak of her cousin, provincial employee Murad Bajunaid, and another relative, Abdullah Datumanong, last Jan. 17 also in the same town.

Also last year, two grenade attacks rocked the residential compound of the Candaos in Rosary Heights, Cotabato City. No one, however, was killed or injured in the attacks.

A third bombing attempt failed and responding Army bomb experts recovered a dud M-67 fragmentation grenade in the Candaos’ yard.

"We are appealing to President Arroyo and Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong to look into the attacks on the Candao family and those helpless, poor people who have become victims of the political power play in Maguindanao," Bai Maleiha said.

She criticized Senior Superintendent Sangcala Dampac, Cotabato City police chief, for insinuating that the killing of Datu Abdulkadir was an "isolated case" and could have stemmed from a personal grudge.

Dampac told local reporters hours after the incident that they were considering "personal grudge" as among the possible motives for the killing.

Datu Abdulkadir was driving his son to the Notre Dame University when the gunmen, on board a black motorcycle, overtook his Isuzu Highlander and opened fire with a caliber .45 automatic, hitting him in the head.

Abdulkadir’s son Sultan, a grade school pupil, and his sister, who was at the backseat, were unscathed.