COLOR OF LOVE Samsudin Dimaukom, mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, in a pink shirt with his pink Hummer and the pink mosque in the background. It痴 the color of love and peace, he said. RAFFY LERMA COLOR OF LOVE Samsudin Dimaukom, mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, in a pink shirt with his pink Hummer and the pink mosque in the background. It痴 the color of love and peace, he said. RAFFY LERMA
MAKILALA, North Cotabato—After President Rodrigo Duterte publicly linked them to illegal drugs two months ago, Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao province, and his wife Anida, the town’s vice mayor, flew to Manila and turned themselves in.
No charges were brought against the Dimaukoms, among more than 150 former and current government officials and policemen who appeared on a wanted list for alleged drug links that Mr. Duterte disclosed as part of a shame campaign.
The Dimaukoms returned to their town.
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At 4:30 a.m. on Friday, Mayor Dimaukom was killed along with nine others, including five of his bodyguards, in what police described as a shootout in Barangay Old Bulatukan here.
Dimaukom was the first to be killed as a new phase of Mr. Duterte’s brutal war on drugs began, zeroing in on high-profile targets.
From targeting drug dealers and pushers, police have shifted the campaign’s focus to politicians, government officials, celebrities and high-ranking military and police officials suspected of involvement in the narcotics trade.
Mr. Duterte returned from a three-day visit to Japan late on Thursday and during a news conference waved a thick book that he said contained names of officials suspected of drug links.
He said the book contained about 3,000 names.
Of the more than 3,700 suspects killed in Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs, more than 1,600 died during police operations, a toll that has drawn international concern about extrajudicial killings.
The killing of Dimaukom took place far from Datu Saudi Ampatuan.
‘Legitimate operation’
“It was a legitimate police operation,” said Supt. Bernard Tayong of the North Cotabato police office, adding that no officers were hurt but a police vehicle was riddled with bullets...
baka talagang pinag handaan mabuti. kompleto gamit maliban sa camera.