Maguindanao mayor, group decry slay of another Teduray leader
COTABATO CITY—The mayor of South Upi town in Maguindanao del Sur province has condemned the killing of another Teduray leader on Friday, the latest victim in a string of attacks against the minority non-Moro indigenous peoples (NMIPs) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The victim, Nickasio Tayas Mindo, former councilman of Barangay Pilar in South Upi, died in Friday afternoon’s ambush by still unidentified gunmen in Barangay Romongaob.
South Upi Mayor Helen Benito, herself a Teduray who lost her brother, Vice Mayor Roldan Benito, to an ambush last year, cried justice for Mindo and his wife who was wounded in Friday’s attack.
“It is with great sorrow and outrage that we condemn in the strongest terms the brutal ambush that claimed the life of Mr. Nickasio Tayas Mindo, a respected farmer and former Barangay Kagawad of Pilar, and seriously wounded his wife, Mrs. Jenelyn Mutia Gunsi Mindo, a dedicated teacher at Saramuray Elementary School,” Benito said in a statement on Saturday.
Affront to peace
She said the attack happened in broad daylight in Sitio Lenan, Barangay Romongaob, while the victims were traveling peacefully. Mindo’s wife was still undergoing treatment in an undisclosed hospital.
Mindo was laid to rest on Saturday in Sitio Saramuray, Barangay Pilar.
“This act of senseless violence is not only an attack on two innocent civilians but also a direct affront to the peace and order that we tirelessly strive to uphold in our community here in South Upi and the Bangsamoro,” Benito said.
Cases unsolved
She urged the South Upi police and other law enforcement agencies to exert all efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly.
“Violence has no place in our municipality, and we will not allow fear and lawlessness to reign,” she said.
Timuay Labi Letecio Datuwata, Timuay Justice and Governance supreme chieftain, noted that all cases of killings of leaders, local officials and ordinary farmers belonging to the Teduray-Lambangian tribe since the BARMM was created in 2019 have remain unsolved.
The Teduray Youth group, in a statement, also expressed outraged over the “seemingly an endless violence against Non-Moro indigenous peoples in South Upi,” noting that 29 IP leaders and farmers had been killed in the town since 2019.
They were among 93 in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte slain since 2019. “Despite this huge number, justice remains elusive and the perpetrators remain scot-free … Where is justice?” the group said.
