Cotabato City (CNN Philippines, April 23) — The family of the slain barrio doctor shot dead in Cotabato City last Tuesday is calling on President Rodrigo Duterte to intervene and help resolve the killing expeditiously.
READ: DOH: Another barrio doctor killed
At the three-day kanduli (banquet) for the dead held Saturday for the late Dr. Shahid “Jaja” Sinolinding in Kabacan, North Cotabato, Department of Health- Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (DOH-ARMM) Sec. Kadil Sinolinding, appealed to the President for justice for the late “Dr. Jaja,” who was also his brother.
“Buong pamilya ay nananawagan sa aming mahal na Pangulo na naniniwala po kami sa inong campaign against criminality at sa drugs,” he said.
[Translation: Our whole family is calling on our beloved President. We believe in your campaign against criminality, and drugs.]
“Jaja” Sinolinding and his escort “Hamid” were murdered in his Cotabato City clinic at 11a.m. on April 18 by an unidentified gunman who had posed as a patient.
His relatives said his killing was related to an alleged controversy at the Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology in Arakan, North Cotabato.
Last August 2016, his older brother, who was a member of the college faculty, survived an ambush in the school campus.
Sec. Kadil Sinolinding appealed to the President to bring his campaign against criminality and drugs to the said college.
The Cotabato City Police Office on Saturday released the cartographic sketch of the gunman, as based on the testimony of eight witnesses.
In the computerized facial composite released by the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory- ARMM, the suspect was shown to be about 30-35 years old, 5’ 7″- 5’ 8″ tall, with a medium build and a fair complexion.
Sec. Kadil Sinolinding said that their family welcomes the release of the artist sketch.
He added, it would greatly contribute to the identification of the killing’s mastermind.
Sinolinding was a consultant ophthalmologist for the DOH-ARMM. He performed eye surgeries to deal with blindness in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, and other island provinces, in addition to serving indigent Moro, indigenous people, and Christian patients in Cotabato City and North Cotabato.
Sinolinding was the second volunteer doctor killed in the line of duty.
In March, barrio doctor Dreyfuss Perlas was shot dead in Lanao del Norte by an unidentified assailant while on his motorcycle.
