INDIGENOUS PEOPLES WATCH
Bloodshed Between Muslims
and Kalingas Feared
Police
fears that blood might spill between Kalinga and Maranao tribes in
Baguio City
after a Maranao vendor shot a Kalinga government official.
BY
ACE ALEGRE
Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY – Bloodshed between
Northern and Southern tribes – Kalingas and Maranaos – looms as an
aftermath of the shooting of a Kalinga anti-illegal peddling official here
by a Marawi migrant trader Aug. 22.
George Addawe, 39,
head of the anti-illegal peddling task force of the city mayor’s office’s
Public Order and Safety Division and also a Kalinga native, was shot in
the stomach with a .45 caliber gun by Yunos Darang, a Maranao vendor from
Marawi City.
Addawe was rushed to
the hospital and is out of danger.
Baguio City police
director Sr. Supt. Isagani Nerez fears of bloodshed between Kalingas and
Maranaos if Darang will not be meted justice.
Office of Muslim Affairs Northern and Central Luzon chief Abel Macarimpas
however vowed to fly to Marawi City to bring the alleged gunman to Baguio
City to face the law.
Baguio police assured on Thursday they will collar Yunos in a few days.
Maranao traders make up the majority of the 4,000 migrant Muslim
traders here.
Nerez although said it will not be difficult to find Yunos because the
victim and witnesses saw him.
The police initially theorized that the shooting might be work-related in
the sense that Addawe and his group had been involved in a lot of
operations against illegal vendors in the city for the past several
months.
Pushed by emotions
The police director explained that Yunos might have been pushed
only by emotions because he only shot the latter in the stomach instead of
the head. “Walang finishing,” (He didn’t finish the job.) Nerez
said.
Nerez said that Yunos was not a professional assassin, because a
professional would not execute his mission in areas like Session Road
where there would be many witnesses.
Minutes before the
Aug. 22 shooting, ambulant vendors along Session Road claimed that Addawe
and his group had rounded up several vendors.
Vendors claim Addawe had angrily stepped on an old woman’s merchandise
during the operation.
In 2004, another official Engr. Nazita Bañez, then head of the city
mayor's office's demolition division tasked with running after illegal
vendors, structures and squatting was also ambushed at the University of
Baguio.
Bañez’s gunman also did not aim at her head but at her buttocks.
Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Media Center
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.