By Ivy Marie Mangadlao
Correspondent
BUTUAN City ― Motorcyle-riding gunmen shot dead two students of Mindanao State University-main campus in Marawi City, Tuesday evening.
Police authorities identified the victims as Omar Maruhom Zainal and Hamza Ariong Rauf, a civil engineering student and physical education student, respectively.
Marawi Police Chief Lt. Col. Nelson Madiwo said the two gunmen, onboard a black motorcycle without a license plate, attacked the victims at around 6 pm in the commercial center inside the MSU campus. The victims succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds to their bodies.
Police investigators found five empty shells at the crime scene.
Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. has expressed his condemnation of the MSU campus killings.
“We demand justice for the two MSU students who were mercilessly shot and killed inside the campus yesterday. This is a brutal act, which the City Police of Marawi needs to investigate, for the culprits to be rightfully punished. Our sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims, Omar M. Zinal and Rauf Hamza,” Adiong said.
MSU students organized a demonstration calling on the university administration to secure the campus and bring the killers to justice, a day after the murders happened.
University System President Habib Macaayong also called for an in-door peace dialogue together with officials and selected students.
Macaayong pointed out that the security mechanism of the university was already strengthened. However, he didn’t deny that there have been lapses in security that are beyond the university’s control.
Mindanao Varsitarian, an MSU student publication condemned the killings and demanded justice for the victims.
“As a student-friendly institution, the Mindanao State University should uphold utmost peace and security among its students and staff. Such cases not only stain the good image of the university but also result in fear among students and hinder them from continuing their usual lives within the campus vicinity,” its statement reads in part.
MSU-Marawi Debate Varsity cited in a statement that the killings of students and academic personnel over the years remain unresolved today and the recurrence of the same violence and murder has created an unsafe environment.
In October 2019, Ivan Alameda, a first-year student was also killed by an unidentified person in the commercial center inside the campus.
