Scion of Mangudadatu clan shot dead

TACURONG CITY, Philippines — Men killed with assault rifles a member of central Mindanao’s large Mangudadatu political clan and a companion in a daring attack right in their hometown late Tuesday.

Captain Leonel Delasan, police chief of Lutayan town in Sultan Kudarat, said Thursday the 30-year-old Naga Mangudadatu and companion, Dennis Hadji Daup, 25, died instantly from bullet wounds.

Mangudadatu lost in his bid for the vice mayoral post of Mangudadatu town in Maguindanao del Sur during the May 9, 2022 local elections.

Mangudadatu’s father, Datu Pax, is mayor of Lutayan, who had served as governor of Sultan Kudarat province.

The victim’s brother, Suharto, is husband of Maguindanao’s now a second-term governor, Bai Mariam.

A son of Suharto and Bai Mariam, Datu Pax Ali, is the provincial governor of Sultan Kudarat.

Delasan said Mangudadatu’s killers fled immediately using a getaway pick-up truck after they killed him and Daup with M16 and M14 assault rifles while together in Lutayan’s public market.

A bystander, Watari Kalim and an 11-year-old boy who were at the crime scene were wounded in the attack, now in a hospital.

Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said Thursday he has directed the intelligence unit of the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office to help put closure to the atrocity.

Macaraeg said the Lutayan Municipal Police Station is in control of the situation in the municipality, a political bailiwick of the Mangudadatu clan.