COTABATO CITY — A 10-minute clash erupted Tuesday between armed supporters of rival political clans in the town of Talitay in Maguindanao province sending a few hundreds of civilians scampering to safer grounds.
No casualty was reported in the incident.
Maj. Arvin John Encinas, Army’s 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, identified the warring supporters as those belonging to the Sabal and Ameril clans in the area.
“They engaged in a brief firefight but ran off after the arrival of troopers from the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion,” he said in a radio interview Wednesday. Encinas said an investigation is still ongoing as to what triggered the fighting that transpired in Barangay Kilalan of the town.
“Sketchy reports, however, said that the quarrel stemmed from an earlier political agreement between the two parties that went sour,” he said. The Sabals, namely Abdulwahab and Montasir, won in the recently concluded mid-term polls as mayoral and vice mayoral candidates in the town, respectively.
The brothers are also both included in President’s Rodrigo Duterte’s narco-list with Abdulwahab having settled his case in court while Montasir remains in hiding.
On the other hand, Sidik Ameril, a provincial board member, is also tagged as a narco-politician on the President’s list. Ameril’s sister, Soraida, also ran for the town’s vice mayoralty position but lost. -PNA
