Peace and Order

KIDAPAWAN CITY - North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco has condemned the murder of Mayor Christopher "Amping" Cuan and his driver Monday morning in Barangay Cabaruyan, Libungan, North Cotabato.

Cuan and his driver had just arrived at the construction site of a cockpit arena at about 11 a.m. when attacked by gunmen armed with highpowered rifles.  Cuan and his driver Edwin Ihao died on the spot.

Catamco has condemned “in the highest degree” the broad daylight and brutal killing of one of North Cotabato’s performing leaders.

COTABATO CITY ---- Authorities today dismissed as offshoot of a rido the fatal ambush on January 9 of a barangay chairman in Ungkaya Pukan town in Basilan and three others, reports from the island province said.

Rido is a generic term for clan war in most Southern Mindanao languages.

Bin Saudi Sarakil, chairman of Barangay Matata in Ungkaya Pukan, and three companions died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

MANILA – A key suspect in the kidnapping of three foreigners and a Filipina in Samal Island in 2015 was arrested in Manila on Thursday, Philippine National Police chief, Gen. Debold Sinas said.

Sinas said based on the reports from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief, Maj. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr., Jehan Aklul alias Khalid Akhalul/Abu Khalid was arrested at 1:50 a.m. Thursday in a 5th floor rented unit on Carlos Palanca St., Brgy. 648, San Miguel, Manila.

LANAO DEL SUR --- Manhunt had been launched against gunmen who allegedly killed four wild pig hunters and set off improvised bomb in the forested area of Madalum, Lanao del Sur on Dec. 10, authorities here today said.

In separate statements Monday, the Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte provincial police offices identified the fatalities as Leo Baloro, 24, Nito Bacayan, 22, Lito Angcap, 22, and the 32-year-old Francis Alcaba, who died from severe blast injuries.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – An alleged member of an Islamic State-inspired local terrorist group operating in South Cotabato province was killed in an anti-drug operation in Polomolok town on Thursday afternoon.

Lt. Col. Alex Joe Orcajada, chief of Polomolok municipal police station, identified the slain suspect Friday as Mohalidin Marot, reportedly a known drug pusher and part of a local cell of the Dawlah Islamiya-Socsargen Khatiba based in the area.

MAGUINDANAO --- Local residents are certain there is a deep-seated grudge between the municipal police force and the terrorists who attacked the town center of Datu Piang Thursday night.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, said Saturday intelligence units of 6^th ID are now helping the police verify the veracity of information from Datu Piang residents purporting that the atrocity involved a group of terrorists whose relatives were arrested by local police personnel in recent law-enforcement operations.

COTABATO CITY - A man and his wife were arrested by police during law enforcement operation in Wao, Lanao del Sur, police said.

Brig. Gen. Samuel Rodriguez, BARMM police regional director, the Bangsamoro Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) identified the couple as Busran Ampatua Saripada, 64, and his wife, Monera Ampatua, 46 who both yielded 1,000 grams of shabu worth P6.8 million.   

MAGUINDANAO --- Gunmen killed on Saturday the officer at the helm of the Jolo police station when policemen killed four Army agents in a mysterious encounter in that southern municipality last June.

The incident in Jolo, Sulu has since remained unsolved and was even subject of a Senate inquiry in aid of legislation.

KORONADAL CITY - Authorities are guarding against possible attacks by terrorists to avenge the deaths of six members of the Dawlah Islamiya in a brief clash in Polomolok town Friday.

One of fatalities, Arafat Pataron Bulacon, is a senior leader of the Ansa’r Al-Khilafa Philippines, a group under the outlawed Dawlah Islamiya, which operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

MAGUINDANAO --- Two more ethnic Teduray tribesmen were killed in separate attacks by armed groups trying to take over ancestral domains of non-Moro indigenous people in South Upi town.

Deric Jan Datuwata and Rejie Maelon were killed one after another on Wednesday and, subsequently, on Thursday in Barangays Lamud and Kuya in South Upi, Maguindanao, respectively.