Teduray chieftain killed in Maguindanao del Sur ambush

COTABATO CITY—  A Teduray tribal chieftain was killed while his companion was wounded in an ambush in Barangay Tuayan in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur on Monday afternoon.

Members of the Teduray tribal council in the municipality and the director of the Maguindanao del Sur provincial police, Col. Roel Sermese, told reporters on Tuesday morning that the target of the attack, Juanito Pamboy, died from multiple bullet wounds.

Pamboy, an Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative to the Tuayan barangay government, was known for being supportive in the peacebuilding programs of local officials in Datu Hoffer, home to mixed Moro and ethnic Teduray communities.

Pamboy and a companion, Ronald Angit, also a Teduray, were riding a motorcycle when they were attacked by gunmen while heading through a stretch of a farm-to-market road in Barangay Tuayan.

Angit was hurt in the ambush, now confined in the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Hospital in nearby Shariff Aguak town.

In a report to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, the chief of the Datu Hoffer Municipal Police Station, Lt. Albert Pansoy, said they have enlisted the help of Teduray tribal leaders and barangay officials in identifying the killers of Pamboy who had immediately escaped using getaway motorcycles.