DOJ chief: Slay try on Maguindanao prosecutor may be work-related

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Wednesday condemned the ambush on Maguindanao provincial prosecutor Akilali Balt, who was attacked by riding-in-tandem suspects in Cotabato City last Tuesday afternoon. In a statement, De Lima quoted investigators as saying that the incident may have been work-related. She added that the Department of Justice, through the National Bureau of Investigation, will look into the motives behind the attack. "We will definitely explore the possibility that this was politically or professionally motivated as he is, in fact, handling sensitive cases involving high-ranking officials in Mindanao," said De Lima. Balt was on his way home last Tuesday when two motorcycle-riding men fired at him and his driver Dandan Balt Datu Dakula. The driver incurred slight injuries while Balt sustained injuries in his lower right ear, lower right neck, and right forearm. They were immediately brought to a local hospital, where the prosecutor remains in critical condition. De Lima did not name the high-ranking officials whose cases were being handled by Balt, but Maguindanao and other provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have been tagged as poll hotspots in recent elections. Last Nov. 23, 2009, Maguindanao was the site of what was said to be the worst election-related and politically-motivated violence in the Philippines. That day, 57 people were killed in the attack allegedly perpetrated by the powerful Ampatuan clan. Key members of the Ampatuan clan are on trial for the Nov. 23 massacre in the town named after them. — Sophie Dedace/RSJ, GMA News