COTABATO CITY – Local officials have condemned the October 31 ambush-slaying of a couple along the highway of Datu Odin Sinsuat (DOS), Maguindanao, the same town where five members of a family, including a four-year old, were also slain about a week earlier. “We condemn such barbaric act. Authorities will run after the perpetrators,” Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said Monday, referring to the killing in an ambush of retired government worker George Busque and his wife Malu in DOS town last Saturday.
Mangudadatu said he directed Senior Supt. Nickson Muksan, Maguindanao police director, to enlist the help of religious and traditional leaders in identifying the killers of the Busque couple. The governor also conveyed his sympathy to the bereaved relatives of the couple, saying he felt similar pain when he lost his wife, two sisters, and other female relatives and friends in the infamous massacre of 58 people in Ampatuan town on Nov. 23, 2009. Busque was a retired personnel officer of the city government here.
After his retirement two years ago, he continued to work as adviser on human resources management to city hall officials. His wife was incumbent head of the city government’s public employment services office. The couple was on their way home aboard a car when motorcycle-riding assailants armed with 9mm pistols overtook them and fired several shots at them. Investigators said the couple sustained fatal wounds in different parts of the body. Probers said the attackers could be professional “guns-for-hire” as indicated in their shooting accuracy. (Ali G. Macabalang)