COTABATO CITY – A 61 year-old woman was killed while nine others were injured when a passenger van rammed a pickup truck and a tricycle parked along a highway in nearby Maguindanao’s Sultan Kudarat town on Tuesday.
The fatality, identified as Lambaina Dagandal, 61, was declared dead on arrival in a hospital here, Senior Inspector Jemar delos Santos, information officer of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said.
Delos Santos said the PRO-ARMM has compelled the owner of the passenger van, Kamarudin Mambayao, to extend financial assistance to all victims on instigation of negotiators invoking Islamic conciliatory tradition.
Investigators said Dagandal was walking towards the entrance of a roadside function facility hosting wedding rites for a relative when the speeding van hit her alongside the parked pickup and tricycle.
Initial reports indicated that the nine injured victims comprised of van passengers and bystanders.
Meantime, two ethnic Muslim families in Salipada K. Pendatun town in Maguindanao have renewed amity after ending their over two years of clannish war or rido in solemn rites brokered by civilian and military authorities.
Peace brokers said members of the feuding Samama and Abdul clans traded hugs and handshakes in tears after their leaders Kindaw Samama and Bong Abdul signed a covenant binding them to peaceful settlement under Islamic tradition.
They said the covenant signing ceremony was held on Aug. 13 at Barangay Midconding, a village in Salipada K. Pendatun town where both Abdul and Samama clans are prominent residents. (Ali Macabalang)