A powerful rocket blast tore through a quiet Sunday morning in the southern Philippines as armed attackers tried to assassinate a town mayor in broad daylight — and came inches from succeeding.
Mayor Akmad Ampatuan of Shariff Aguak was riding in his armored Toyota Land Cruiser when a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into his convoy. The explosion sent smoke billowing across the highway. For several seconds, witnesses thought the mayor was dead.
Then, through the smoke, the SUV lurched forward and sped away.
“It should have killed everyone inside,” said a security official who reviewed the footage. “The fact he made it out is unbelievable.”
Shariff Aguak sits in the heart of BARMM, a region scarred by political feuds, clan wars, and decades of insurgency. Violence during election season is expected. But a full-scale RPG ambush at sunrise stunned even longtime residents.
“This wasn’t intimidation,” said a local government worker. “They were out to erase him.”
The attack marks the fourth known attempt on Ampatuan’s life since 2014. The town, population 30,000, has already logged multiple killings tied to political rivalry in just the past year.
CCTV video posted by the municipal government shows a white van parked suspiciously along a rural road. At 6:30 a.m., two men jump out.
One takes aim with an automatic rifle.
The other launches the RPG.
The projectile streaks across the screen and slams into the mayor’s SUV. A fireball flashes. Smoke swallows the frame. The attackers scatter.
Inside the SUV, two members of the mayor’s security detail were hurt. They survived with minor injuries. “They’re lucky to be alive,” said mayoral assistant Anwar Kuit Emblawa.
Police and soldiers chased the suspects into the neighboring town of Datu Unsay. What followed looked like a battlefield.
Gunfire echoed through Barangay Meta as the Philippine Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion cornered the suspects. When the smoke cleared, three attackers were dead. A fourth slipped away and is now being hunted across the region.
Police say the group was led by Budtong “Rap-Rap” Pendatun — a known figure with outstanding warrants for murder, robbery, and illegal firearms. He was joined by close relatives, turning the ambush into a deadly family operation.
“They were prepared to die,” said a police official at the scene. “And they nearly took a mayor with them.”
Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño of the Philippine National Police said investigators are scrambling to determine who ordered the hit.
“We’re not ruling out hired guns,” Tuaño told reporters. “This attack took planning, resources, and intent.”
He also confirmed a review of local police procedures. “We need to know how a group carrying an RPG got into position. Something isn’t adding up.”
The ambush has reignited fear across BARMM, where the line between politics and personal warfare often blurs. Even after historic peace agreements, assassinations and clan feuds still dominate local power struggles.
“Ambushes like this don’t just happen,” said a Mindanao security analyst. “They send a message. And that message is: no one is safe.”
function pinIt() { var e = document.createElement(‘script’); e.setAttribute(‘type’,’text/javascript’); e.setAttribute(‘charset’,’UTF-8′); e.setAttribute(‘src’,’https://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r=’+Math.random()*99999999); document.body.appendChild(e); }
