COTABATO CITY—Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said he will issue today an order indefinitely suspending the mayor of Talitay, Maguindanao for absence without official leave in violation of the Local Government Code.
Hataman said Mayor Montasir Sabal, who has been tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte as among the narco-politicians in Mindanao, has not been reporting for work for several weeks now.
Sabal’s younger brother Abdulwahab was arrested in September on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Hataman said the town has been “headless” with Sabal’s absence.
On Friday, government forces raided the house of the mayor, who has gone into hiding, where they seized unlicensed guns and illegal drugs.
Hataman said the suspension order for Sabal will cover not just illegal possession of drugs and firearms but his absence without leave as well.
The Sabals have repeatedly denied they were involved in the illegal drug trade. The mayor, a former policeman who has been accused of maintaining a shabu laboratory, only admitted that he was once a drug pusher in Quiapo.