The Good and the Bad!

Two policemen in Zamboanga City - the other wearing a safety helmet and the other is not - during a morning rush hour along a road in Tumaga village. The local police warned its personnel to always use safety helmets if traveling on a motorcycle in accordance to a city council ordinance requiring all motorcycle riders to wear helmet. Violators are penalized P1,500 and policemen are not exempted from the law. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Photo: Suspected Cellphone Thieves In Zamboanga City

Suspected thieves are being interrogated at a police station in Zamboanga City after they were arrested for stealing a cell phone in a parked car in the village of San Roque. The phone was later recovered. Some of them had been previously involved in snatching incidents in the village and were spotted breaking into the perimeter fench of the Zamboanga International Airport . (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Cops Shoot Unarmed Fisherman In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 21, 2008) – A policeman shot and killed a fisherman after he tried to escape while being arrested for illegal fishing in Davao City in the southern Philippines.

Benjever Madagmit, who was unarmed and posed no danger to policemen, had been shot in the head. His nephew managed to flee from the policemen, who were members of the Bunawan police force.

The killing occurred late Saturday and the family of the victim have appealed to human rights group and the Philippine National Police to investigate the murder. (Romy Bwaga)

Soldiers Rescue 2 Kids Kidnapped In South RP

A photo released by the Philippine military show the two rescued children and their parents in Sulu province.

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 21, 2008) – Government soldiers rescued Sunday two children who were reported kidnapped in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, police said.

Police said two people were also arrested after soldiers swooped down on a house in the village of Anuling in Patikul town where the children – Ben Austine Doyola, 3, and his brother Benedict, 2, - were being held.

The children were allegedly kidnapped last week in the family’s home in Jolo town and their captors reportedly demanded P 1 million ransom. It was not immediately known if the kidnapping had to do with old debts.

Police said the parents of the children Elena Doyola, 26, and Bienvenido Doyola, Jr, sought the help of authorities in rescuing the two kids.

Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan has ordered police to file criminal charges against those arrested, Julmina Hatae and her father Jamiri Jalisan and other who were involved in the kidnapping of the children.

“Justice must be served and let this be a warning to other criminals that authorities will eventually catch up on you, sooner or later,” Tan said.

The military tagged the woman’s husband, Hajal Hatae, as behind the kidnapping, but it was not immediately known whether he has links with rebel groups or not. (With a report from Nickee Butlangan)

Soldiers Wounded In Sulu Island Clash

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 27, 2008) – At least two government soldiers were reported wounded in a clash Sunday with unidentified gunmen in the southern Philippine island of Pangutaran off Sulu province.

The Philippine military did not give any statement about the fighting and spokesmen and security officials ignored calls by journalists who were verifying the reports. Two Marine soldiers were injured in the clash on the island where pirates and Abu Sayyaf militants were believed to be hiding.

Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan said there is an ongoing military operation in Pangutaran after local leaders sought the help of the military to run after pirates and criminals, including the Abu Sayyaf who were behind extortion activities and attacks on trawlers and small fishermen at sea.

"We are supporting the ongoing military and police operation aimed at neutralizing the lawless elements," Tan told the Mindanao Examiner.

Police said it would deploy more forces on the island to secure civilians and protect them from possible attacks by lawless groups. "We will send more police forces in Pangutaran and enforce law and order on the island," Senior Superintendent Julasirim Kasim, the provincial police chief, said in a separate interview.

Kasim said he would replace the current police chief on the island.

The fighting occurred as politicians running for the August 11 elections in the Muslim autonomous region are campaigning. Sulu is one of five provinces that comprise the autonomous region.

Piracy is rampant in Sulu Sea where trawlers and ferries had been attacked in the past by gunmen. (Mindanao Examiner)

Police Patrol Ambush In Zamboanga Town

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 30, 2008) – Suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels attacked Wednesday a Philippine police patrol, wounding four, on a farming village in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte, officials said.

Officials said the attacked occurred before dawn near a village called Lakiki in Sibuco town, a known MILF stronghold west of Mindanao island. The attack on police forces sparked a running gun battle in the area.

Troops from the Army’s 44th Infantry Battalion on a nearby village were sent to pursue the attackers, but gunmen split into smaller groups and fled to the hinterlands.

“We received reports that several gunmen were wounded in the fighting and troops were sent to pursue the attackers,” Major Eugene Batara, a regional army spokesman, told the Mindanao Examiner.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the local police blamed the MILF for the ambush. The motive of the attack is still unknown, but rebels have previously assaulted security forces patrolling near their camps.

The MILF, which has been fighting the government for almost four decades for a separate Muslim homeland in Mindanao, is currently negotiating peace with Manila. (With a report from Ely Dumaboc)

RP Police Breaks Labor Rally, Arrest 6 People

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 10, 2007) – Telecommunication workers held a picket on Wednesday in front a police headquarters after six of their union officials were arrested a labor rally in Manila.

Other union officials from the country’s largest telecommunication firm, PLDT, said the six were arrested after policemen broke a peace rally that also injured a still undetermined number of workers.

The solidarity rally composed of different labor federations, six labor centers and other union groups were protesting the termination of hundreds of workers.

PLDT said it paid workers, whose services were terminated, more than what the law requires.

Those arrested were identified as Pete Pinlac, president of Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon sa Pilipinas (MKP-PLDT Union); Atty. Virgie Pinlac, spokesperson of Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan (KAISA KA); Arturo Castillo, first vice president of Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas ( MKP- PLDT Union); Bong Beato, second vice president of Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas (MKP-PLDT Union).

And Roy Fernandez, representative of Manggagawa sa Komunikasyon ng Pilipinas (MKP-PLDT Union); Mitzi Chan, Popular Struggles Director of Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) and Aurelio Veloso, of Manggagawa Para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN).

It was not immediately known why the six were arrested, but it coincided with a failed dialogue of protesting workers with Labor Secretary Arturo Brion. The workers said they would continue on their hunger strike until Brion hear their complaints. (Mindanao Examiner)

Cop, 2 Others Implicated In Murder Of State Examiner In South RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 07 Aug) – Three people, including a local policeman, were implicated in the murder of a state auditor in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the three men were implicated after police arrested two other suspects in the killing of Vilma Eguias last week. Eguias, of the Commission on Audit, was driving her jeep to work when shot from behind in Tetuan village by one of two motorcycle gunmen.

One of those arrested confessed to the shooting and pointed to the policeman and his two companions, both civilians, as masterminds in the murder, officials said.

It was unknown whether the killing was connected to the victim’s work as government auditor. Eguias was buried Tuesday in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)

Police Launch Probe Into Killing Of Official In South RP

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 05 Jul) – Authorities on Thursday launched an investigation into the murder of a police official in the southern Philippine city of Davao.

Two gunmen shot Senior Inspector Godofredo Guiritan in front of a pharmacy in the downtown Davao at around 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Guiritan was the chief of police of Alegria town in Surigao del Norte province. The police official died instantly from fatal shots in the head.

Chief Superintendent Andres Caro, the regional police chief, said he ordered the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to investigate the killing.

Guiritan was in Davao City to attend a court hearing of an administrative case he filed against another police official who allegedly mauled him in 2004.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but extra-judicial killings is rampant in Davao City.

Last week, two civilians were murdered in separate attacks in the city, where summary killings, allegedly perpetrated by vigilantes and security forces, are a common occurrence. Hundreds of mostly criminal suspects have been killed the past years in Davao City. (Romy Bwaga)

Police Clashed With Gunmen In South RP

Policemen arrive in Sultan Kudarat town to reinforce cops who came under fire from gunmen. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Mark Navales)

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 13 Feb) – Police forces clashed with unidentified gunmen near strongholds of Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippine town of Sultan Kudarat near Cotabato City, officials said Tuesday.

The fighting late Monday was triggered by a grenade attack on the house of a decorated Cotabato City police commander, Senior Inspector Samson Obatay, in Salimbao village.

Gunmen, armed with automatic weapons, also attacked police reinforcement with small rockets, sparking a brief, but heavy exchange of fire.

There were no reports of injuries or casualties either of the grenade attack or clashes between police forces and gunmen, a local police desk officer Dato Gani said.

“They attacked the house of Senior Inspector Samson Obatay and police reinforcement. The police engaged the attackers until the gunmen fled. There were no police or civilian casualties. We still don’t know if there were enemy casualties,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Obatay is commander of an elite police unit responsible in the killings of many criminals and capture of suspected terrorists in Cotabato.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion fell heavily on Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.

The MILF denied it had a hand on the attack and said it could be family feud. “We have no involvement in the attack, but it could be family feud. Obatay, being a police officer, has a lot of enemies and he knows that,” a rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu told the Mindanao Examiner.

The MILF, the Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, is currently negotiating peace with the Arroyo government. It signed a truce in 2001, but despite the cease-fire agreement, sporadic clashes still continue between rebels and soldiers with both sides accusing each other of violating the fragile accord. (With a report from Mark Navales)