Gunmen fire at BARMM regional exec’s house

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A private guard was hit in the head when gunmen fired at the houses of a senior Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission official and an HRC staff in Barangay Labungan in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte on Thursday.

In reports to the Maguindanao del Norte provincial police office and Bangsamoro region police office, barangay officials said 10 men fired M-16 rifles at the residences of HRC Bangsamoro Commissioner Archie Buaya and his staff Ben Aguil, hitting in the process village watchman John Debang in the head.

Records from the police offices in Region 12 and in the Bangsamoro region as well as that of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division indicate that 75 Teduray tribal chieftains and figureheads have been killed in a spate of grenade and gun attacks since 2018.

Among the 75 slain were Roldan Benito, former vice mayor of Upi town, who was killed in an ambush along with his bodyguard Weng Marcos in August.

Buaya, Aguil and Debang are members of the ethnic group Teduray in the adjoining Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur provinces.