Town councilor candidate killed in Cotabato ambush

COTABATO CITY —Gunmen ambushed and killed a candidate for the municipal council of Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao del Norte, at dusk on Saturday, January 18, in Midsayap, Cotabato.

Officials of the Midsayap Municipal Police Station and local executives separately told reporters on Sunday morning, January 19, that the 46-year-old Jerry Beltran Dopredo died on the spot from bullet wounds in the head.

Dopredo is aspiring for a seat in the municipal council of Northern Kabuntalan, one of the 12 towns in Maguindanao del Norte, a component province of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

He was riding his motorcycle when he was attacked by two men, armed with pistols, in Barangay Central Katingawan in Midsayap, killing him instantly. Midsayap is in the first district of Cotabato province under Administrative Region 12.

Barangay Katingawan, where Dopredo was ambushed, is located near the border of Midsayap and Northern Kabuntalan towns.

The assailants of Dopredo immediately escaped using a getaway motorcycle, according to witnesses. 

His relatives in Northern Kabuntalan told reporters that they are convinced that the murder of Dopredo, who had served as member of their municipal council years before, was politically-motivated. 

The director of the Bangsamoro regional police, Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, said he has instructed the director of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office to dispatch intelligence agents to Midsayap to help municipal police investigators put a closure to the atrocity that left Dopredo dead.