Three Killed In Violence In Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 15, 2008) – Unresolved murders continue in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines as a trader fell victim on Monday, barely a day after gunmen also killed a man on a village here.

Police said Abtahil Abdul, 25, was killed early Monday in front of church in the village of Tumaga. Abdul, a market stall owner, was shot in the head and died instantly.

Gunmen also shot dead Eric Salvador, 38, late Sunday in Santa Maria village and police said it is investigating both killings. Several people had been killed the past weeks and the murders remained unsolved.

In Zamboanga del Sur province, a college freshman Anelyn Secovia, was also killed on Friday in the town of Dumingag, police said.

It said Secovia’s body which bore stab wounds, was discovered at a coconut plantation. It was not immediately known whether she was raped or not. (Erico Rosco)

Hunt Is On For Cop Killer

Filipino policemen and soldiers pursue gunmen who killed a cop in Cotabato City in the southern Maguindanao province. One man has been arrested by security forces. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Mark Navales)

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 02, 2007) – Police forces searched Sunday for gunmen who shot and killed a policeman in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato, officials said.

Officials said one man was arrested in connected to the killing of Senior Police Officer 3 Winefredo Gipala, who was shot by a group of men last week in Cotabato City.

Gipala was killed while trying to arrest the men, believed to be behind the spate of robberies in the city. (Mark Navales)

Gunmen Kill 2 In South RP

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 29 May) – Gunmen shot dead two people in separate attacks in the troubled region of the southern Philippines, police said Tuesday.

Police said armed men barged in a house in the village of Magsaysay in Compostela Valley’s New Bataan town and killed Gloria Magalon.

The 54-year old woman was preparing breakfast fro her family when the gunmen shot her in the head. The woman, police said, died instantly in the weekend attack.

Gunmen also shot dead the 15-year old Randy Bilinario inside his house in the village Cogon in Kiblawan town in Davao del Sur province.

Provincial police said the victim was just resting inside the house when the suspects barged inside and shot him with a 12-gauge shotgun.

The motives of both attacks are still unknown, police said. Just last week, a motorcycle gunman also shot dead a young woman, Venus Maquiran, in a broad daylight attack in Panabo City in Davao del Norte province.

Police said the woman was heading for work on her motorcycle when the gunman drive by her side and shot her in the head.

Extra-judicial killing is common in the dangerous region of the southern Philippines, where murder can be contracted for as low as one hundred dollars. (Romy Bwaga)

Soldier In Rampage, Kills 9 In Jolo Island

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 08 Apr) – A government soldier ran amok and killed nine of his companions before himself being shot dead inside a Philippine Army base in the southern island of Jolo, officials said on Sunday.

The soldier, identified only as Pfc. Idai, went into a shooting rampage before dawn Saturday inside their base in Silangkan village in Parang town. One civilian was also wounded in the shooting, other military sources said.

“We are still investigating the incident. Right now, we cannot give anything yet. We still do not know what happened,” Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the Army’s First Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

The military did not give details of the shooting, but the soldier, who was killed by sentinels, belonged to the 35th Infantry Battalion, sent to fight the Abu Sayyaf group tied to al-Qaeda terror network.

Thousands of soldiers are deployed in Jolo to battle the Abu Sayyaf which is said to be coddling Indonesian and Malaysian Jemaah Islamiya militants, among them Dulmatin and Umar Patek.

Both men have been implicated in the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed 202 mostly tourists. (Mindanao Examiner)

Zamboanga Cops Link Soldier To Chinese Slay

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 01 Nov) – Police on Wednesday have implicated a government soldier as allegedly behind the murder of a Chinese trader in Zamboanga City.

Police said the soldier was linked to the Oct. 26 killing of Mawang Huang by the wife of a dismissed soldier who was earlier captured here in a raid on his hideout. The captured man was also allegedly involved in the killing.

Huang, who owns three cell phone stores here, was shot in downtown Zamboanga and police said robbery was the likely motive for the attack.

Police did not release the name of the soldier, but local media reports, quoting unnamed police officials, identified him only as Abas, who is assigned in Lanao del Norte province.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Police mounted a massive manhunt for the suspect. More than a dozen people, including policemen and soldiers, had been killed in a spate of gun attacks here the past weeks blamed by authorities to the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

It was unknown whether the soldier or his group was involved in other killings. More than 200 people had been killed in a series of gun attacks in Zamboanga City the past four years.

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat has offered P50,000 rewards for anyone who can help authorities solve the string of murders, but the bounty was too small compared to the P43 million intelligence fund the local government has, his critics say.

Local traders have expressed alarm over the unabated killings. (Mindanao Examiner)

Zamboanga Traders Are Alarmed Over Spate Of Killings

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Darwin Wee / 30 Oct) – Traders in the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga expressed alarm Monday over the spate of killings they say has effected the business climate.

The number of senseless killings has increased significantly over the recent months. Just the past two weeks, about a dozen people had been killed in gun attacks in Zamboanga, bringing the death toll to more than 70 since early this year.

"The situation is very alarming. The authorities may be trying their best, but the public, especially the business group here is not happy with the rising crime rate," business leader Arsenio L. Gonzalez, Jr., told the Mindanao Examiner.

Mr. Gonzalez, who is the current director of the Zamboanga Economic Zone, said investors will shy away if killings continue unabated in Zamboanga City.

Most of the killings remain unsolved and police blamed the attacks on hired killers and family feud.

Early this month, Charles Mesina, manager of Kingstown Sardines factory, was shot dead by a suspected policeman while traveling on his way home. Gunmen also killed a business couple Joseph Quijano and his wife Erlinda in an attack just outside their house in Zamboanga.

Another Chinese trader identified only as Huang was also shot dead last week in downtown Zamboanga.

"What makes these incidents even more alarming is that the authorities themselves are baffled over the spate of killings, as if nobody is on top of the situation."

"We are urging the local government and our security forces to beef up there intelligence gathering. It will somehow mellow down the public fear. Authorities should track down and arrest the culprits immediately," Mr. Gonzales said.

But Mayor Celso L. Lobregat said most of the reported crimes here had been resolved. "I have met with the business sector and I explained to them that as a mayor I am most concerned about these incidents, he said in a separate interview.

He said most of the killings here were believed to be connected with feud and personal grudge. He also ordered the police to put up checkpoints and road blocks and to strictly implement the campaign on illegal weapons.

Mr. Lobregat also announced that Supt. Mario Yanga was appointed as temporary chief of the local police force replacing Supt. Francisco Cristobal.

Yanga is also the regional police operations chief and a former head of the Zamboanga City Police Office. "My directive to Supt. Yanga is to strictly implement the gun ban in the city and to conduct round-the-clock inspections on all checkpoints in the city," he said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Cop Killed In Latest Zamboanga Attack

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 29 Oct) – A policeman was killed in a daring broad daylight attack Sunday near downtown Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, police said.

Police said the victim, SPO1 Rodrigo Deza, was on a motorcycle when shot in the head shortly before 1 p.m. along Nunez Road. Witnesses told the police that they saw two motorcycle gunmen tailed the cop and one of them shot him from behind.

“He was shot in the head. We already have suspects,” Supt. Jose Gucela, Zamboanga’s deputy police chief, told reporters without further elaborating.

Police investigators said they have recovered 6 empty shells of .45-caliber pistol from the scene.

Deza’s 9mm pistol was missing, they said, but his M16 automatic rifle was recovered by the police.

On Friday, a government soldier, Sgt. Carlito Alvarez, and a Muslim employee of the Air Transportation Office, Abdulgafar Udin, were killed in separate attacks Zamboanga City.

Police the soldier was on motorcycle when he was shot several times in the head at around 6 p.m. along Jaldon Road near downtown Zamboanga. Udin was shot in the chest at least 13 times.

On Thursday evening, an unidentified gunman also killed a Chinese trader identified only as Huang in downtown Zamboanga City. Prior to the killing, two policemen were also shot dead in separate attacks in Zamboanga.

On Monday, a soldier and his civilian companion were also killed inside their apartment in Sta. Maria village, about 2 km from downtown area. Police said all the killers escaped on motorcycles.

More than 200 people had been killed in violent attacks and summary executions in Zamboanga City the past years. (Mindanao Examiner)