Saturday, August 21, 2004 Town mayor linked to attack on councilor By Jun Feliciano
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The local chief executive of Maluso town is being implicated in the attempted murder of Asdri Bud, a councilor of the town who was shot and seriously wounded in his residence Wednesday night.
But Mayor Salajin Sakib, in a radio interview from his home in Maluso, vehemently denied the claim reportedly made by Bud himself who was reportedly recuperating at the Brent Hospital in Zamboanga City.
Bud was first rushed to the Basilan Community Hospital (Bascom) in Isabela City, Basilan, for treatment of serious gunshot wounds in the abdomen and left shoulder.
A lone gunman using an M-16 armalite rifle shot the councilor at his home in Maluso. The councilor was with his family when the incident happened. His relatives claimed to have recognized the attacker who fled from the scene under cover of darkness after the attack.
"We have already settled our differences in the past in the presence of the battalion commander in our area. I understand his attacker was identified as a relative of their enemy who was recently killed. Besides, he (Bud) has many enemies here in Maluso. There maybe several angles in his attempted killing. Definitely I have no knowledge about the incident," Mayor Sakib declared.
Sakib also confirmed that Bud has a pending rape case as earlier revealed by Basilan Provincial police director Senior Supt. Bensali Jabarani in an interview.
Jabarani believed that Bud's attempted assassination could be due to personal grudge or politically motivated.
The wounded Bud is serving his third and last term as town legislator of Maluso.
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