A small-town mayor in the Philippines is counting his lucky stars after he survived another attempt on his life. Would-be assassins took an extraordinary measure to get the job done, and still failed.
According to Newsweek, Mayor Akmad Ampatuan escaped death this past Sunday (Jan. 25) after his vehicle was ambushed in the streets of Shariff Aguak and was hit by gunfire and a rocket-propelled grenade. Who knew the political climate in the Philippines was this real?!
The attack occurred around 6:30 a.m. when two men opened fire on Mayor Ampatuan’s Toyota Land Cruiser (classic Hip-Hop four-wheeler) with one man using an assault rifle, and another unleashed the beast in the form of a grenade launcher. While the mayor escaped the assassination attempt unharmed, two of his security guards suffered minor abdominal injuries.
After making a break for it, the suspects were eventually cornered by the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion before getting into a shootout, which resulted in three of the four would-be assassins being killed. Police identified Budtong “Rap-Rap” Pendatun as the brains behind the operation, along with his cousin and uncle being part of his hit squad. The fourth suspect, whom authorities say is a sibling, was able to make a break for it and remains at large.
Talk about a family affair.
While we’re not up to par with what’s going on politically and socially in the Philippines these days, as America continues to resist the fascist makeover it’s currently undergoing, it seems like the good people of the Philippines aren’t strangers to violent political dissent themselves, and Ampatuan could’ve been the latest casualty of its hostile environment.
Per Newsweek:
The attack on Mayor Akmad Ampatuan occurred in Shariff Aguak, a town of about 30,000 people in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM.
The area has a history of political violence and has been designated an election hotspot by the Philippine Commission on Elections. Gunmen killed two Shariff Aguak residents were killed by gunmen in January 2025 in the lead-up to elections, and Sunday’s was the fourth attempt on Ampatuan’s life since 2014.
Fourth attempt?! What’s his policies that the people want that man dead so bad? Also what was that Land Cruiser made of? Vibranium? How’d it survive a bazooka like that? We need answers.
