Dilangalen protégé gunned down

COTABATO CITY , Philippines  – Suspected partisans gunned down a candidate for the city council – a political protégé of the firebrand Maguindanao first district Rep. Didagen Dilangalen, and wounded his two children in a daring ambush at a residential area here past 7 a.m. yesterday.

Senior Inspector Wally Kasuyo, spokesman of the Cotabato City police, said the victim, Joseph Kwan Datuwata, 42, has just left his house for downtown on board a pick-up truck when two pistol-wielding suspects, positioned at both sides of the street, opened fire with .45 caliber pistols.

Datuwata’s two children, both minors, were immediately wounded in the attack.

Datuwata, armed with a handgun, managed to return fire, but was himself killed in the ensuing firefight.

Kasuyo said witnesses have confirmed that one of the gunmen, who both left the scene on board motorcycles, was wounded in the encounter.

“Our operatives are now hunting them both. The city mayor has directed all of the 37 barangay chairmen in the city to help the police locate their whereabouts,” Kasuyo said.

Datuwata was to aspire for a seat in the city council under the ticket of mayoral candidate Bai Sendig Dilangalen, wife of Dilangalen.