By Ali Macabalang
KIDAPAWAN CITY – Police and Army troops have arrested four suspects in the recent killing of a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) field leader in North Cotabato, the provincial police office here said.
Senior Supt. Maximo C. Layugan, North Cotabato police director, identified those who were arrested as Akmad Abdul Jr., 26; Phonnex Bitol Anog, 42; Nindie Sinumalong Dengkang, 26; and Tengan Tantong Anog, 52, all farmers and residents of Purok 3, Sitio Langaban, Brgy Gaunan in Mlang, North Cotabato.
Layugan said the suspects were collared a few hours after attacking Sunday morning Jun Pananggulon, 59, and his helper, Tota Ante Magaluyan in his banana farm at Purok 3, Sitio Lanagaban, Barangay Gaunan in Mlang town.
Pananggulon, a field leader of the MILF’s 108 Base Command, died instantly, while Magaluyan was rushed to a local hospital with bullet wounds.
Combined policemen and soldiers of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion’s Charlie Company swiftly responded and caught the suspects aboard two motorcycles while fleeing the bloody scene, Layugan said.
He said the pursuing troops recovered from the suspects a caliber 30 carbine rifle, a Springfield modified M14 rifle, and Colt AR-15 M16 rifle, and assorted live ammos, alongside the two gate-away motorbikes.
Layugan commended the responding troops, and urged them to sustain their “high-level vigilance and quick action” that led to the immediate arrest of the suspects.
In separate report, Layugan said his command has arrested 27 people, seven of them included in the list of North Cotabato’s “top 10 most wanted persons” in Feb. 11 to 15.
During the same period, he said, his field teams arrested four suspects in possession of seven sachets of shabu, seized 700 board feet of illegally-cut lumbers, and impounded 324 various vehicles for traffic violations.
Layugan said his operatives arrested five suspects involved in illegal gambling, and locked up another person for illegal possession of a 12-gauge shotgun, during the same period.