BARMM town councilor shot dead on first day of election gun ban

The bold daytime assassination is a blow to the vulnerable administrative foundations of Kadayangan, a town still struggling to establish institutional stability

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Motorcycle-riding gunmen shot dead a 37-year-old councilor from the newly formed town of Kadayangan in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Special Geographic Area (SGA) on Thursday, July 16, the first day of the election gun ban.

Councilor Nasser Alipolo Dalandang was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital after the attack along the national highway in Barangay Salunayan at around 3 pm on Thursday.

The attack took place on the very first day of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) gun ban enforced across the region ahead of the high-stakes September 14 BARMM parliamentary elections.

Dalandang was in the driver’s seat of their Toyota Hilux, waiting for this wife who was buying medicine at a roadside pharmacy, when two men on a motorcycle suddenly stopped alongside him. Without warning, one of the men pulled a .45-caliber pistol and pumped multiple rounds through the driver’s side window.

Responding soldiers deployed near the area rushed the bleeding official to the nearest hospital, but attending physicians confirmed he succumbed to critical chest wounds en route to the hospital.

The bold daytime assassination is a blow to the vulnerable administrative foundations of Kadayangan, a town still struggling to establish institutional stability.

The killing directly challenges the authority of the state’s security framework. Hours earlier, regional police forces had set up checkpoints to strictly implement the election weapon ban.

Midsayap police chief Lieutenant Colonel Rey Salgado strongly condemned the attack and immediately deployed tracking teams to recover CCTV footage from nearby commercial establishments.

Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) recovered several spent .45-caliber shells at the bloodstained highway spot, which would be subjected to ballistic examination.

While municipal investigators are still validating whether a deep-seated clan feud or rido triggered the attack, local leaders feared that the upcoming parliamentary elections would spark more violence.

Barangay Salunayan has become a notorious flashpoint, having previously seen similar high-profile ambushes targeting BARMM local officials in transit.

Anxious residents across the SGA-BARMM communities are urging the national government to deploy additional military forces to dismantle active partisan armed groups as the September 14 polls draw near. – Rappler.com