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Date: 25 April 2013
Source: http://www.zambotimes.com/archives/news/64790-Maguindanao-mayoral-bets-house-strafed.html

COTABATO CITY — Police here have launched a manhunt against gunmen who strafed the house of a former Maguindanao town mayor Thursday night.
Nobody was hurt in the strafing but it sent fear among the residents living near the house of Datu Akmad Ampatuan, former mayor of Datu Salibo, Maguindanao.
Inspectgor Marlon Silvestre, Shariff Aguak police chief, said the strafing occurred at about 11 p.m.
Silvestre said nobody was in the house when the strafing occurred.
Quoting witnesses, Silvestre said the heavily armed suspects who were carrying Armalite rifles and shoulder-fired rocket propelled grenade launchers destroyed the fence of Ampatuan’s home before firing.
The Ampatuans left the house in the aftermath of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre which killed 58 people, including 30 journalists.
Silvestre said caretakers has been maintaining cleanliness of the house but they were not staying there.
The same house was also subjected to strafing last month.
Responding policemen found empty shells of M-16 Armalite rifles.
Silvestre said investigators are looking at politics as one of the motives. They are also looking at vengeance as the motive of the gunmen.
Ampatuan was one of the suspects in the Maguindanao massacre and he remained at large.
He filed his certificate of candidacy, through his lawyer late last year, to run for mayor of Datu Salibo in next month’s elections.
Silvestre said Ampatuan remains the subject of police manhunt. (PNA)