22 suspects in deadly Maguindanao ambush charged

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Criminal cases have been filed against 22 suspects in the February 12 ambush in Guindulungan, Maguindanao that left 10 dead and hurt three others.

Lt. Col. Cristio Lagyop Jr., spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Saturday among those charged with multiple murder and frustrated murder were Jordan Lintang Mama and his son, Morshid.

Mama, leader of a big group of heavily armed men, and his son allegedly masterminded the carnage.

The group of Mama and the ambush victims, among them a Moro community leader, Pegez Mamasainged, are locked in a longtime “rido,” or family feud, triggered by land disputes and politics.

The slain Mamasainged and Mama, both members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, are cousins.

Three sons of Mamasainged also got killed when gunmen positioned at one side of a road in Barangay Kalumamis in Guindulungan shot their vehicles, a Maroon Mitsubishi Montero and a black Ford Ranger pick-up truck, with assault rifles.

The victims were on their way to another town in the second district of Maguindanao.

Lagyop said ambush survivors have identified their attackers, enabling investigators from the Guindulungan police and the Maguindanao Provincial Police Office to immediately build up corresponding criminal cases against them.

Investigators have submitted the documents pertaining to the cases to the Office of the Maguindanao Provincial Prosecutor, according to Lagyop.

The incident has sparked tension in Barangay Kalumamis and nearby areas in Guindulungan.

Guindulungan is one of 36 towns in Maguindanao, a component-province of the Bangsamoro region.