16 suspects in slay of 3 farmers arrested

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Assisted by Muslim and Christian residents advocating peaceful coexistence, police operatives arrested 16 suspects in the killing of three Moro farmers in an ambush in Matalam, North Cotabato over the weekend.

The 16 suspects were collared one after another in a police pursuit operation launched an hour after they allegedly waylaid a convoy of motorcycles bearing some ethnic Muslim farmers. Three of them died on the spot along Barangay Kibudoc in Matalam, a town adjacent here, on Saturday, the provincial police office here announced Sunday.

The three fatalities were identified as George Dilangalen, During Panga and Mohammad Angeles, who were said to be members of a Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) faction led by the late Dima Ambil, a field leader of MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari.

Taher Guiambangan Solaiman, a North Cotabato-based official of the Mindanao Human Rights Action Center, called for a thorough probe of the ambush-slay, not only to give justice to the fatalities and their families, but also to prevent a repeat of bloody fighting between Moro natives and Christian settlers in the province in 1970s.

The arrested ambush suspects were led by Joel Bolante, 41, whose Ilongo family has been locked in a land dispute with relatives of the fatalities, Matalam police investors said.

Also detained at the town police station pending formal criminal charges were Romar Prado, 29; Redmar Samson, 32; Reynaldo Mosquera, 41; Efren Mosquera, 51; Warlito Mosquera, 37; Danilo Mercado, 25; Lando Helera, 43; Jonathan Viajante, 42; Alvin Villarin, 30; Dennis Olvido, 34; Johnny Patria, 27; and four minors, all Visayan residents of Matalam’s Barangay Estado.

The three fatalities were traveling together aboard separate motorcycles on Saturday when their attackers emerged from the roadside, and peppered them with shots from mostly vintage rifles, which reportedly belonged to Visayan kin- members of the paramilitary Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu), initial investigations said.

Four companions of the fatalities named as Jomer and Datu Ali, both surnamed Sultan, and siblings Samsudin and Suharto Dilangalen were first reported missing. They were eventually located in nearby villages where they fled as the assailants pursued them. (Ali G. Macabalang)