The mayor of Pantar, Lanao del Norte was killed in an ambush in Iligan City on Thursday night.
Mayor Mohamad Exchan Limbona, 52, sustained multiple gunshot wounds after he was ambushed in Barangay Dalipuga, Iligan City, police investigators said.
Limbona was brought to the Adventist Medical Center but was declared dead by attending physicians less than an hour after the incident.
Limbona’s escort, Police Officer 1 Russel Jay Paltingca, and PO1 Saidamen Haji Naim were both hit in the legs. Limbona’s wife Ginima and daughter Sittie Aisha were unhurt.
Iligan City Police Director Police Supt. Roy Ga told Magnum Radio in an interview that an undetermined number of men fired on the driver’s side of Limbona’s Ford Everest, hitting the mayor.
Ga said the possible motive for the killing could either be politics or “rido,” a family feud that permeates Maranao culture.
In 2015, on the last day of the filing of candidacy for the May 9 elections, a combined force of the Regional Public Safety Battalion and Army soldiers with four Simba light armored vehicle prevented an armed confrontation between Limbona’s men and acting mayor Jabar Tago.