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PIKIT, North Cotabato (MindaNews/05 January) — Unidentified men shot dead at past 8 a.m.Tuesday a village chairperson in front of his horrified wife, officials said.
Brigadier General Noel Clement, 602nd Infantry Brigade commander, said Dodong Mangansakan, chairperson of Barangay Silik, was declared dead on arrival at a hospital in Poblacion Pikit.
Quoting a field report, Clement said Mangansakan was driving a multicab to take his teacher-wife to Pikit Poblacion.
Upon reaching Barangay Ginatilan, also in Pikit, unidentified armed men flagged down his car and opened fire. His wife was spared.
Villagers rushed the official to the town center but he was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians.
Clement said Army troopers have been deployed to the village to help the local police in hunting down the attackers.
The town police chief did not respond to calls by MindaNews.
Talks were rife that the killing could be election related as the slain official was an uncle of Pikit Vice Mayor Don Mangansakan who is running for mayor this year.
Relatives brought the remains of Mangansakan to Barangay Paidu Pulangi where he will be given a Muslim burial. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera/MindaNews)