COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The central committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is now in custody of suspects in the brutal murder of the vice mayor of controversial Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.
Members of the MILF’s central leadership confirmed on Thursday that the seven suspects whom witnesses tagged as responsible for the death of Anwar Sindatok are now detained by their Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces.
One of the sources, Ghazali Jaafar, MILF’s first vice chairman, told reporters the suspects were turned in by Ustadz Wahid Tundok, the most senior MILF commander in Datu Saudi Ampatuan.
Jaafar declined to answer when asked if they will endorse the seven men to the police, which filed criminal charges against them a week for killing Sindatok using handguns and assault rifles in his house in Datu Saudi Ampatuan.
A ceasefire accord crafted by government and MILF negotiators in Cagayan de Oro City in July 1997 enjoins both sides to cooperate in maintaining law and order in conflict flashpoint areas in the country’s southern provinces.
Talks had earlier spread claiming that the suspects killed Sindatok on mere suspicion that he helped the police locate their mayor, Samsudin Dimaukom, during an anti-narcotics operation that led to his death on October 28.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier tagged Dimaukom as among the politicians on his list of alleged large-scale drug traffickers in the country.
Three of Dimaukom's slain companions were closely related by blood to senior commanders in the MILF's Tundok-led 118th Base Command, according to members of the municipal peace and order councils in Datu Saudi Ampatuan and nearby towns.
MILF sources said the seven gunmen who killed Sindatok were relatives of three of Dimaukom’s companions.
Sindatok assumed as vice mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan after the death of Dimaukom, whose post was taken over by the vice mayor, the late mayor's widow Anida.
Sindatok was the town councilor with the most votes in the May elections, making him next in line to be vice mayor.
The MILF central committee has deployed non-resident commanders to Datu Saudi to help defuse the brewing tension between relatives of Sindatok and the families of his alleged killers.