By Ali G. Macabalang

COTABATO CITY – Top officials of the United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP) have vehemently condemned the killing in broad daylight of their mayoral bet in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao on Friday in what they suspected as part of continuing harassments against their members and allies in the province.

In separate statements, UBJP Vice President Mohagher Iqbal and Deputy Secretary General Naguib Sinarimbo aired grief over the “gruesome murder” of former Barangay Dalican chairman Datu Jamael Q. Sinsuat Sr., assuring his bereaved family of the regional political party’s support in seeking justice.

Iqbal, concurrent MILF vice chairman and Education minister in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), asked the regional police leadership to relieve “immediately” the chief of police of Datu Odin Sinsuat (DOS) for alleged failure to maintain law and order in the town.

Sinsuat, 56, was exiting from the town’s compounded masjid after joining the Friday congregational prayer when a gunman shot him dead before he could board his service vehicle parked nearby past 1p.m., earlier reports said.

Iqbal lamented that the mosque is near the town hall and just a “few meters away” from the municipal police station.

“I could fathom how can one think of this gruesome murder in a place of worship, except for the fact that the person who did this or (was) behind this has no more fear for Allah SWT (subahannahu wa taala),” Iqbal said in dismay.  

For his part, Sinarimbo, concurrent BARMM’s Interior and Local Government minister, called on all “law enforcement agencies to conduct a swift and thorough investigation and immediately bring the perpetrators and everyone behind this to the bars of justice.”

He said the UBJP had raised concern over “continuing harassment and attack against its officials and party leaders since the elections and immediately thereafter,” echoing Minister Iqbal’s claim about recent assassination attempts on other party members or allies in DOS town alone.

Residents earlier said armed escorts of Sinsuat had fired back and killed the triggerman that also joined the prayer and tailed the unsuspecting victim. The slain suspect remained unidentified as of press time. One resident sent to this writer some photos of the alleged triggerman lying lifeless at the scene.

Former Maguindanao 1^st District Congressman Ronnie Sinsuat, an uncle of the victim, corroborated the residents’ initial information. But he said they learned that there were two other accomplices who had swiftly escaped after his nephew’s escorts returned fire. He also lamented the alleged lack of swift police probe in the incident.

The former lawmaker ran for reelection under the UBJP in this year’s synchronized elections but lost to Bai Dimple Mastura of the rival “Family Alliance” political bloc led by reelected Maguindanao Gov. Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu.

The UBJP is the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with key BARMM officials as members. It was registered with the Commission on Elections in 2015 as the MILF started transitioning from its armed revolution to a political movement.

It put up full official slates across Maguindanao in this year’s local and national elections, fielding Sinsuat as a mayoral candidate in the town named after their father. But Sinsuat lost to his nephew, Lester Sinsuat, who ran for mayor on the verge of ending a three-term vice gubernatorial reign.

Former Rep. Sinsuat was interviewed by the Philippine Muslim Today over the phone while he was with the family of his deceased brother preparing for an Islamic burial rite Saturday morning.

He said his deceased brother was the second to the youngest of 20 children of the late Datu Odin Sinsuat in different wives.

The slain Sinsuat, who is survived by six children, had served for years as chairman of Barangay Dalican, the original name of Dinaig town before it was renamed Datu Odin Sinsuat. (AGM)