Mayor Montasir Sabal nabbed in Batangas, slain in escape try while in police custody
Breaking News • 14:45 PM Thu Jun 17, 2021
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By:
Vernon Santiago/NDBC
File photo of Talitay Vice Mayor Montasir Sabal. (Ferdinandh Cabrera)
MANILA, Philippines — A former mayor of Maguindanao linked to the Davao City bombing in 2016 was killed by police after he allegedly tried to escape while being transported to Camp Crame Thursday morning.
PNP Director General Guillermo Eleazar said in a news conference in Camp Crame that Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) agents have arrested Montasir Sabal in Batangas Batangas port at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Arrested with him were Noraida Nandang, 43; Mohaladin Mokaram, 36; Aika de Asis, 34; Aileen Kumpanya, 45; Soharto Monico, 28; and Wilson Santos, 41.
Eleazar said CIDG agents seized 400 grams of shabu (crystal meth), unlicensed guns, and P200,000 cash from Sabal when he was arrested. He was nabbed based on standing warrants for violation of Republic Act 9165 (Dangerous Drugs Act), and for illegal possession of explosives.
According to the PNP chief, Sabal was one of the planners of the 2016 bomb attack in Davao City and has been supplying guns and explosives to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Talitay to protect himself from Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
After his arrest, Sabal was brought to Camp Crame.
Along the way, Sabal, a former police officer, was separated from his companions while being brought to Camp Crame and allegedly grabbed the gun of one of his escorts at 5:30 a.m. while the police car he was riding was traversing N. Domingo Street, San Juan.
This prompted other policemen to shot him. He was rushed to the San Juan Medical Center but was pronounced dead on arrival at 6:13 a.m.
Sabal who was elected as vice mayor of Talitay in the 2019 elections became the town mayor after his brother, Mayor Abdulawahab Sabal was killed in a hotel in Manila.
He resigned as Talitay mayor last May 2021.
Sabal, before joining local politics was a former member of the PNP’s Special Action Force from 1998 to 2010.
President Duterte named him in 2016 as among the narco-politicians in the country, an allegation he repeatedly denied.