By Edwin Fernandez
COTABATO CITY – Police remain clueless about the motive behind the attempt on the life of a Muslim religious leader who was shot and injured inside his home over the weekend in Kadayangan town, Special Geographic Area of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (SGA-BARMM).
Police said the victim, Ustadz Israel Silungan Padao, 43, was inside his home in the village of Kapinpilan, Kadayangan, when an unidentified gunman shot him. Padao was performing an evening prayer on Saturday when he was attacked.
Padao was hit in the hands and feet and miraculously survived, police said. A relative told reporters on Monday that the victim is in stable condition.
Padao is the second Islamic preacher to be a victim of a gun attack in recent weeks. On Sept. 8, Ustadz Abusadid Landasan, a 35-year-old Islamic preacher and principal of an Islamic school in Aleosan, North Cotabato, was found dead with gunshot wounds to the head along a roadside in Barangay Taviran, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.
An Ustadz is known in the community for leading Salah (Prayer) and offering spiritual guidance to fellow Muslims.
Lt. Col. Jopy Ventura, BARMM police spokesperson, said investigators recovered seven spent shells of a .45-caliber pistol from the scene.
Ustadz Salem, a fellow preacher, said the attack against Padao has had a chilling effect on them as religious leaders. “For us, the attack was not just an assault on a person, but an attack on the faith itself,” Salem said, calling on local police to bring the perpetrators to justice. (PNA)
