MANILA — A Maguindanao town mayor who was earlier named in President Rodrigo Duterte’s “narco list” was gunned down by a motorcycle-riding gunmen in Malate, Manila.
Talitay, Maguindanao Mayor Abdulwahab Sabal was about to enter Manna Hotel in Quirino Avenue at around 10 p.m. on Monday night when he was ambushed, said Manila Police District Station 9 commander Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Pabonita.
Initial investigators showed that, as soon as Sabal alighted from his vehicle in front of the hotel, where he was about to check in, the men “shot the victim repeatedly” then fled the scene.
Sabal sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the body which led to his immediate death. All three of the mayor’ companions escaped the ambush after they shattered the hotel’s glass as they tried to enter the establishment during the shooting incident.
Sabal, who was then Talitay town vice mayor, and his brother Montasir were included in President Duterte’s list of politicians who are allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade in 2016.
Shortly after the release of the list, Sabal surrendered to police for investigation to disprove the drug allegations but they were later arrested by Anti-Illegal Drug Group at the Cotabato Airport in Datu Odin Sinsuat town over drug trafficking charges.
Police also accused him of involvement in the Davao market blast that same month, but authorities later pointed to the Maute Group as behind the bombing./PN
