L awyer Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III today urged law enforcement authorities to solve the killing of a public school official in Pagalungan, Maguindanao, who tried to expose the massive fraud that marred the senatorial election in the municipality in 2007.

Mr. Pimentel lamented that the murderers of school-district supervisor Musa Dimasidsing have remained unknown and unpunished nearly three years after it took place.

Dimasidsing was a member of the board of canvassers of Pagalungan when he was gunned down within the premises of an Islamic school in Pikit, North Cotabato, in June 2007.

Atty. Pimentel asked the lawmen to revisit the Dimasidsing murder case in the wake of last week’s massacre of at least 57 innocent civilians in Maguindanao reportedly perpetrated by members of the civilian militia and private army under the control of the Ampatuans.

“No witnesses dared to come forward to testify on the slaying of Dimasidsing for fear of physical harm by the criminal perpetrators and the local politicians believed to have ordered the crime,” he said.

“Now that the Ampatuans are under investigation for the carnage in Maguindanao, the hope has been rekindled that the mystery behind the Dimasidsing killing will be solved.”

The young Pimentel was the prime victim of the wholesale “dagdag-bawas” (vote padding and shaving) operation during the 2007 polls in Maguindanao. He said that the ongoing government probe of the massacre opens an opportunity to reopen the Dimasidsing murder and to render justice to an unsung hero who lost his life for preventing the manipulation of the electoral process.

As a designated school official tasked with supervising election activities, Dimasidsing reportedly witnessed how unscrupulous poll officials, political operators and local politicians conspired with each other in rigging the results of the 2007 senatorial elections in his area of jurisdiction.

The school-district supervisor filed complaints against several members of the boards of election inspectors for committing irregularities in the tabulating and reporting of election results in Pagalungan.

Dimasidsing was said to have confirmed the testimonies of the town’s elementary school teachers that they were harassed and intimidated by political operators whose aim was to ensure victory of administration bets in the senatorial derby.

He also reported to the authorities that four ballot boxes were snatched by armed men believed to be working for a local politician. # # #