SITG to probe killing of Maguindanao municipal council aspirant

COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 21 October) – A Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) will be formed to probe the killing of a candidate for councilor in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur for the May 2025 elections.

Lieutenant Albert Pansoy, Datu Hoffer municipal police chief, said the SITG will delve deeper into the killing of Toto Gogo Kensa, 45, who was gunned down around 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 19.

The victim and his wife Bai Norhaiya, who survived the incident, were going home from nearby Shariff Aguak on board a motorcycle when the still unknown assailants fired at them along the national highway.

Kensa  is an incumbent kagawad of Barangay Labu Labu 2 in Datu Hoffer, Mayor Bai Bong Ampatuan said. 

He ran but lost in the vice mayoralty race in the May 2022 elections, under the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, the political party of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Hamra Asya Macapeges, Datu Hoffer election officer, confirmed that Kensa had filed his certificate of candidacy for municipal councilor under the Lakas Christian-Muslim Democrats party for the May 2025 polls.

Pansoy said there is “urgency to investigate Kensa’s killing since he is both a candidate in next year’s elections and an elected barangay official.”

The victim’s wife, Bai Norhaiya, said that Kensa had not received any death threats and that he freely roamed the community, according to the police official.

Maguindanao del Sur is part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The Commission on Elections is closely watching the BARMM, a region marred with past election-related violence, including the infamous Ampatuan Massacre on November 23, 2009 that left 58 people dead, including 32 media workers.

The Council for Climate and Conflict Action Asia, a non-profit peace-building organization working to explore the links between conflict and climate risks, found an uptrend of violence in the Bangsamoro region starting in 2021, based on a report released last August. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)