Catholic university professor filled in Cotabato ambush

Shot by the killers on a motorbike who pulled up alongside his car in broad daylight. Notre Dame University: ‘Let's not let this become another unsolved case in the growing list of senseless acts of violence in our country’. A few days ago the decision was made to postpone the Bangsamoro elections.

Manila (AsiaNews) – The murder of Israel Abas Angas – an engineering professor at Notre Dame University, the Catholic university in the city of Cotabato, and owner of a construction company – yesterday turned the spotlight back on the violence in Mindanao, highlighting how behind the façade and official indications violence is always ready to emerge in the tormented south of the Philippines, where just five days ago the elections planned for the full autonomy of areas with a strong Muslim presence, including Cotabato City, were postponed.

Angas, a lecturer in the faculties of Engineering and Computer Science, was on his way to the university when, in broad daylight, his car was overtaken by a motorbike with two armed men on board, who fled immediately after the murder. A manhunt was immediately launched and a video camera in the area of the ambush provided images of the alleged killers.

The reasons for the crime remain unknown, even if yesterday's is yet another act of violence in the region of which Cotabato, with over 300,000 inhabitants, is the main city. Another recent case, similar in circumstances, involved an employee of the University of Southern Mindanao, Shiela Ramos Bautista, also a teacher and engineer, which took place on 30 December in the city of Kidapawan.

In a press release Notre Dame University spoke of ‘an act of violence that not only represents a loss for the academic community but also an offence to the sanctity of life and the values of humanity that we hold dear’, also emphasising how Angas' murder represents “a painful loss both for the academic community and for society”.

Without pointing the finger at possible culprits, the administration of the university, run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, in remembering the teacher and offering their condolences to the family, urged the authorities to quickly identify and arrest those responsible, but also to do their utmost to prevent this bloody act from going unpunished.

‘Let's not let this become another unsolved case in the growing list of senseless acts of violence in our country. We ask anyone with information to come forward to participate in the investigation. Only through collective action can we ensure that justice is served and that these atrocities can be prevented in the future.’

The inclusion of Cotabato, with a population of 330,000, into the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Barmm), officially established in January 2019 to ensure lasting peace in the far south of the Philippine archipelago and the development of local Muslim communities, was the result of a complex process that only materialised in 2023 with its definition as an ‘autonomous city’ in the Barmm.