Couple Killed in Maguindanao del Sur Robbery Attack, Raising Security Concerns

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Gunmen shot dead a Moro couple after robbing them of their belongings right in their house in Sitio Matiyumpong in Barangay Dalgan in Montawal, Maguindanao del Sur on Tuesday night, September 8. Local executives in the neighboring Montawal and Pagalungan towns in Maguindanao del Sur and in the nearby Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area in Cotabato separately told reporters on Wednesday that the spouses Alex Monib Pandapatan and Bai Macabimban Salipada-Pandapatan both died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in the attack. Municipal officials and Moro datus in Montawal and in Ligawasan town in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic area had told reporters the gunmen barged into the house of the Pandapatans, took their money, wristwatches and mobile phones and shot them with combat rifles before they ran away. The exact location of the victim’s house is not too distant from the border of Datu Montawal and Ligawasan, one of the eight towns in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area under the regional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, but are inside Cotabato province in Region 12. The gunmen who perpetrated the atrocity managed to escape before responding volunteer community watchmen and barangay officials in Dalgan could reach the scene. Units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade are cooperating in identifying the killers of the Pandapatans for prosecution.