Poll exec, school principal survive Maguindanao attacks
Bystanders view the white Honda fit vehicle driven by Baimhon Ambalgan, the 58-year-old principal of Campo Elementary School in Pandag, Maguindanao. Ambalgan survived an ambush by still unidentified gunmen in Pandag, Maguindanao. (Photo from the Pandag Municipal Police Office)
COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao, Philippines – A school principal and an election officer, both women, survived separate ambuscades on Monday in Maguindanao, police said.
In Barangay Malangit in Pandag, Baimhon Ambalgan, a Tacurong City resident and the principal of the Campo Elementary School, was driving her Honda Fit with her daughter, who’s also a teacher, on board when they were ambushed at around 3 p.m. by gunmen on a motorbike.
The principal was injured, according to Lt. Elmar Elarcosa, Pandag police chief.
Two hours earlier, Jean Hangkal, election officer of Datu Salibo town, was driving to nearby Datu Piang town at around 12:30 p.m. when she noticed a minivan partly blocking her path.
Hangkal told reporters later that she noticed something was wrong when the van did not move. She tried to maneuver around it, but as she did so, a gunman inside the van shot her. Her aide was slightly injured.
Hangkal sped away to bring her aide to a hospital in Datu Piang, where the patient got first aid. She then proceeded to Midsayap in Cotabato province and sought help from an Army detachment.
She said she had been receiving threats before the incident and that she suspected the ambush was election-related. She did not elaborate.
Col. Christopher Panapan, chief of the Maguindanao Provincial Police Office, said both incidents, which happened while the election gun was still in effect, were still under investigation.
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