Mindanao Armed Conflict

COTABATO CITY - The head of Cotabato City General Services Office, Pedro Tato Jr, survived an ambushed by still unidentified gunmen at about 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Almedras Renabor, city public safety officer, said Tato, 59, sustained shoulder and body injuries but is now in stable condition at a hospital.

His driver, Dandy Anonat, 30, was critically injured and later expired while undergping medication at the hospital, according to Major John Vincent Bravo, Police Station 2 chief.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte – Patuloy na nababawasan ang maliit na bilang ng mga natitirang komunistang terorista makaraang masawi sa panibagong labanan ang isang mataas na lider ng komunistang terorista sa Sitio Kalogkog, Badiangon, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, pasado alas-10:00 kagabi (August 13, 2023).

Kinilala ni Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar, pinuno ng 37th Infantry (Conqueror) Battalion ang nasawi na si Joseph Longan alias Michael, commanding officer ng Beijing Platoon at kabilang sa mga high value target na kasapi ng communist terrorist group.

AMPATUAN, Maguindanao Sur  – Police arrested here Sunday one of the suspects in the murder of a police lieutenant and foiled his attempt to execute another police officer securing a sports event in town.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, police director for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and has jurisdiction over Ampatuan police office, identified the suspect as Hamid Mling, a member of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat  – A wanted Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) member and five communist rebels were separately arrested during law enforcement operations in Sultan Kudarat on Thursday.

Colonel Christopher Bermudez, Sultan Kudarat provincial police director, said the MILF member, identified as Bassir Naga, 41, a resident if Barangay Kaya-Kaya Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao del Sur was arrested based on arrest warrant issued by a local court.

COTABATO CITY - Gunmen killed a traditional Moro leader and his son in an ambush at dusk Sunday in a secluded area in Matalam town in North Cotabato, police said. 

Lt. Colonel Ariel Melocotones, Matalam town police chief, told DXND that the victims were on board a motorbike heading for home when ambushed at past 6 p.m.

In his report to Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, PRO-12 regional director, Melocotones identified the fatalities as Anwar Ebrahim Salem, Sr., 52, and his 21-year-old son, Anwar Hudines Salem, Jr.

COTABATO CITY - An senior official of the New People’s Army long wanted for high-profile criminal cases was killed while two others were arrested in separate Army operations Thursday in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat.

Brig. Gen. Michael A. Santos, commander of the Army’s 603^rd Infantry Brigade, told reporters Friday the slain communist terrorist group leader, Rowie Libot, perished in a brief clash with personnel of the 37^th Infantry Battalion in an upland area in Barangay Lemulan in Kalamansig town.

KABACAN, North Cotabato - Uidentified gunmen ambushed and killed Thursday night a off duty soldier in Barangay Kayaga here at past 6 p.m., police said.

Major Maxim Peralta, Kabacan town police chief, identified the fatality as Private First Class John Ian Paul Castor, 30, assigned with the 90th Infantry Battalion based in Pikit, North Cotabato.

Peralta said in a radio interview that Castor was driving his Honda XR 150 going to Kabacan when two men on separate motorbike opened fire, hitting the soldier in his back and fell off his bike.

COTABATO CITY --- Villagers found Friday in a secluded barangay in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte the cadaver of a missing money-lending firm collector, stabbed in the chest, both hands and ankles tied, face wrapped with packing tape.

Lt. Col. Julhamin Asdani, Sultan Kudarat municipal police chief, told reporters the slain Ireneo Braga Discuatin, Jr. was an employee of the Khan Dabra Trading in nearby Pigcawayan town in Cotabato province, owned by Indian nationals engaged in money-lending business.

MANILA – Operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) arrested a supporter of the Islamic State-inspired Maute terror group and two ranking communist rebels in separate operations in Lanao del Sur and Isabela.

In a statement on Thursday, CIDG chief Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr. said Cedric Casano, 29, and Charlotte Velasco, 28, ranking officials of the New People's Army (NPA) in Isabela were arrested during the implementation of a search warrant by the composite team from the CIDG in Barangay Upi in Gamu, Isabela on Tuesday.

GEN. SANTOS CITY - Law enforcement agencies executed a warrant of arrest in Barangay Poblacion, Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, resulting in the apprehension of Aileen Manipol Villarosa, 41 years old and a resident of Purok Palmera, Barangay Sta. Clara, Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat on July 1, 2023.

Ms. Villarosa, a NGO worker affiliated with Rural Missionaries of the Philippines - Northern Mindanao Region, was taken into custody as per the warrant issued for her arrest.