The Rajah Buayan town government in Maguindanao del Sur has offered a PHP1 million bounty for information that could lead to the arrest of the suspects in the killing of a former vice mayor. Rajah Buayan Mayor Bai Maruja Ampatuan Mastura announced Tuesday afternoon the bounty offer during the 7th-day ‘Taz’ziyah’ (expression of grief) for the late former town Vice Mayor Bai Jinn Utto Lumenda, a relative. Lumenda was driving the family-owned pickup truck (ABC-6348) with his father when unidentified gunmen ambushed them at 1 p.m. on July 12 in Barangay Pingguiaman, Lambayong town in Sultan Kudarat. ‘A PHP1-million reward is offered for any information that will help identify, put behind bars the suspects who killed Vice Mayor Lumenda,’ Mastura said in the vernacular. In attendance during the ‘Taz’ziyah’ were local officials, friends, and relatives, including Datu Jonathan Lumenda, the slain vice mayor’s father, who was injured during the ambush. Relatives believed the ambush was politically motivated since the former vice mayor has declared that she would seek an elective post in the October barangay elections. Lumenda was scheduled to tie the knot with her fiancé in December this year. Her death was among the many violent incidents that occurred along the national highway linking the towns of Rajah Buayan, Sultan sa Barongis in Maguindanao del Sur, and Lambayong in Sultan Kudarat. Last month, a teacher and an election officer of nearby Sultan sa Barongis town were also separately ambushed and killed along the same highway and their cases remained unsolved to date.
Source: Philippines News Agency
