Maguindanao gov's brod tagged in fiscal's ambush

MANILA, Philippines - A brother of Maguindanao Gov. Esmail “Toto” Mangudadatu was tagged in the ambush of Maguindanao Provincial Prosecutor Akilali Balt last week in Cotabato City.

Balt’s daughter Aminah told Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in a letter yesterday that Acmad Makakena Maliga, the arrested alleged gunman, had pointed to Mayor Ibrahim Mangudadatu of Buluan town as the mastermind behind the attack.

“Acmad Maliga declared that the mastermind Mayor Ibrahim Diong Mangudadatu of Buluan, Maguindanao ordered them to kill Fiscal Balt,” she alleged.

With this, Aminah asked De Lima to investigate this information, transfer the custody of Maliga to the National Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Manila and also the preliminary investigation on the case in Manila.

“Since the culprits involved the most powerful ruling family in Maguindanao, the wit­nesses lives and that of my father are now in grave danger, and it is virtually impossible to have a fair and safe investigation and trial in Cotabato City. On hindsight, similar cases end up in a mockery of justice,” she stressed.

In his five-page affidavit subscribed last Friday, Maliga was asked by Assistant City Prosecutor Tocod Ronda in Filipino: “I will repeat, who ordered your group to shoot and kill Fiscal Balt of Maguindanao?”

The suspect then replied: “Si Mayor Ibrahim Diong Mangudadatu.”

The STAR tried to contact the camp of Mayor Mangudadatu but to no avail. Nena Santos, lawyer of his brother, Gov. Mangudadatu, refused to comment since the mayor is not her client.

Balt was on his way home aboard a service vehicle with his driver Dandan Balt Datu Dakula when two men riding a motorcycle appeared on their side in a red light and suddenly opened fire at them. He sustained gunshot wounds in his lower right ear, lower right neck and right forearm and was still in critical condition as of yesterday afternoon.

The ambush happened on March 15 along the busy highway in Rosary Heights, Mother Barangay in Cotabato City at around 4 p.m.

Authorities have already traced the motorcycle used by the culprits and found it was registered to a certain Asma Samaon.