4 killed in Lanao Norte highway attack

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 26, 2010) – Armed men clad in police uniform flagged down a provincial bus on a highway in the southern Filipino province of Lanao del Norte and shot and killed four people on Thursday.

Among those killed were two policemen and the bus driver, according to passengers who witnessed the killings. One passenger said gunmen stopped the bus, owned by Rural Transit of Mindanao, at a police checkpoint in Kapatagan town and told the passengers they received reports that armed men were in the bus.

Hearing this, two passengers who turned out to be policemen introduced themselves, but were immediately gunned down. The other passengers were told to disembark by the gunmen who later shot two more people.

“They said they were policemen and told us to get out of the bus and we saw how they shot the victims. They told us that they were only after the driver and his bus,” one passenger told a local radio network, dxRZ-Radio Agong.

He said the bus, which came from Cagayan de Oro City and bound for Zamboanga City, was flagged down at around 1:30 a.m.

The motive of the attack was unknown and no group or individual claimed responsibility for the killings. But the province in a known lair of bandits and rebels who were previously blamed for attacks on commuter buses and civilians.

Last year, gunmen also strafed a passenger jeep and killed and wounded at least six people on a highway near Tagoloan town in Lanao del Norte.

In 2008, Moro rebels negotiating peace with Manila also attacked several villages in the towns of Kolambugan and Kauswagan town, burning houses and shooting at innocent civilians after the failed signing of the homeland accord with the Arroyo government. (Mindanao Examiner)

Filipino reporter verbally abused by police officer

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 25, 2008) – A radio reporter in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines have complained Tuesday that he was verbally abused by an officer of the Traffic Management Group (TMG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The TMG, formerly known as Highway Patrol Group, enforces traffic laws and regulations and has been tapped in anti-carnapping and anti-hijacking operations. It supervises also the printing of PNP vehicle clearances in coordination with Land and Transportation Office.

Santos Cortez, 29, of the Radio Mindanao Network-dxRZ Radyo Agong, said the incident occurred at the TMG office in Zamboanga City. Cortez was to interview the new TMG regional chief, but since the official was not available he asked to interview the deputy chief, Supt. Daniel Mayoni instead.

Mayoni at first hesitated to give an interview about the TMG’s accomplishments in Zamboanga, but later changed his mind.

But Mayoni was apparently irked after learning that the interview was being recorded and cursed Cortez in front of TMG personnel.

“I was not bringing any particular issue for interview, since I was informed there's a new chief of the TMG Western Mindanao, I feel its proper to determine from the said office their latest concerns and campaigns,” Cortez said.

“Since the deputy chief Supt. Daniel Mayoni is around, I decided to interview him and at first he hesitated but later gave me some details like the number of stolen vehicles and he was conscious that I was using my MP3 for recording.”

As Mayoni is giving more details, Cortez said he moved his recorder nearer to the officer to catch his voice more clearly. “And that's where he got mad. Mayoni suddenly raised his voice in the presence of three other persons inside the room saying, patayin mo yan, patayin mo yan, gago ka pala dinadaya mo ako (Turn it off, turn it off, you fool, you're making a fool out of me).”

Cortez, shocked with Mayoni's reaction took back the recorder, but the officer snatched and slammed it on the table, NUJP said.

“I was really embarrassed and afraid of his actuations, it was my first time to encounter such behavior from a police colonel,” Cortez said.

Cortez said the voice clip was important for his report. “Sound bytes are really important for us to make our report,” he said.

The independent media watchdog, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi Chapter tried to reach Mayoni to get his side but he did not return the message. The NUJP has condemned Mayoni's act and demanded for a public apology.

Local newspaper editors said they would embargo all news and press releases from the TMG until Mayoni apologize for his conduct, which is unbecoming of an officer of the law.

The TMG hit the headlines in November 2005 after it killed three alleged carjackers - Anton Cu-Unjieng, Francis Xavier Manzano and Bryan Anthony Dulay - in a shootout near a posh village in Pasig City. But television footage taken at the scene by an independent cameraman showed TMG officers approaching the car and firing at the victims simultaneously.

The Commission of Human Rights (CHR), which investigated the incident, also said there was no shootout, but rubout. A government forensic expert Raquel Fortun who was advising the (CHR), said her findings showed that the victims did not fire any weapons.

Other reports said the three victims, who belonged to prominent families, were allegedly killed by the TMG operatives on suspicion they were members of a crime syndicate called Valle Verde gang. (Mindanao Examiner)

8 Villagers Seized In Basilan Island

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 14, 2008) – Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels seized Saturday at least 8 people in the southern Philippine province of Basilan, reports said.

The rebels, led by Sattar Alih, abducted the villagers for a still unknown reason. Regional and provincial police and military officials declined to give any statement and their spokesman refused to answer phone calls made by journalists.

A local radio network Radyo Agong reported that the rebels seized the villagers in the town of Maluso. But the MILF in Basilan said the rebels only used the villagers to guide them to the town’s hinterlands and that all of the civilians are now back to their families.

Just last week, Abu Sayyaf militants have released a kidnapped Filipino nurse, Preciosa Feliciano, after four months in captivity in Basilan in exchange for P2 million ransom.

Feliciano, 24, was freed November 7 in Tipo-Tipo town. She was kidnapped July 7 in Zamboanga City and brought to Basilan by boat.

The Abu Sayyaf, headed by Puruji Indaman and Nur Hassan Jamiri, is still holding Millet Mendoza and Joed Anthony Pilangga. A fourth victim, Esperancita Hupida, was freed October 30 after private negotiators allegedly paid P2 million.Families of kidnapped victims on Friday appealed to President Gloria Arroyo to help secure the release of the hostages.

Pilanga, a university student, was snatched on October 17 outside their house in Zamboanga City. Kidnappers have demanded P20 million from Pilangga's family; P7 million for Mendoza's freedom.

The families of Pilangga and Mendoza said they cannot afford to pay ransom and have appealed to the kidnappers to free the hostages.

The Abu Sayyaf also kidnapped nine people in recent months in Basilan and sent letters to Christians living on the island threatening them with harm if they do not embrace Islam. The letters were signed by Indama and Jamiri. (Mindanao Examiner)

Shot Mindanao Broadcaster Still In Critical Condition

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines (August 6, 2008) - Radio broadcaster Dennis Cuesta, who was shot in close range on Monday, may suffer partial paralysis should he survive, said the doctors of St. Elizabeth Hospital who attended to him.

The bullets reportedly pierced the victim’s right head, left arm and the lower portion of his hip, and hit the spinal column. Cuesta is working for the Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) in General Santos City.

Cuesta, along with a former RMN reporter, was on his way to a nearby mall when shot from behind by two motorcycle-riding gunmen along the National Highway fronting the Novitiate Square just a few blocks to the dxCP radio station.

“This is the first attempt to gun down a journalist under my time. And I want to see these suspects behind bars,” Chief Supt. Felizardo Serapio, police regional director for Central Mindanao, told local police officials after forming Task Force Cuesta composed of repre­sentatives from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Regional Investigation and Detection Management Division, Regional Intelligence Division and Public Information Office to ensure a coordinated effort in the investigation and immediate resolution of the case.

Local journalists from different media groups condemned in the strongest terms the attack against Cuesta and helped find means to provide blood and medicines for their colleague.

They are also organizing an activity to demonstrate their col­lective grievances on Friday star­ting with lighting of candles at the crime scene, before marching toward the Oval Plaza down to the city police command in Camp Fermin G. Lira.

The reporters underscore with this move their protest against the “unabated” killings in the city, numbering at 70 reportedly perpetrated by the “brom-brom boys” (local term for motor-riding guns-for-hire) since the start of 2008.

Ronel Degorio, a hard-hitting columnist of the local Sapol News Bulletin noted it is high time for Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Avelino Rason to look into the investigation before local residents completely lose their trust and confidence on the city-based law enforcers.

In an interview with media, Serapio said the police are looking into several angles as primary motives of the attack. “This could be work-related considering Cuesta was a hard-hitting radio commentator and also a witness to an illegal detention case. Still, we cannot use these circumstances as evidence. We need to gather hard evidences and witnesses that will lead to the arrest of the suspects,” said Serapio.

The police chief for Central Mindanao referred to the arrest of four suspected killers of Mainland Review columnist Marlene Esperat in Tacurong City, the filing of charges against the suspected killer of RGMA radio commentator Jun Abayon, including the arrest of the two suspected killers of the late Ely Binoya who was gunned down while on his way home on June 17, 2004.

Police said anyone with relevant information could contact the Task Force Cuesta at (083) 301-5083 or use the PNP Hotline 117/166 for immediate action. (Isagani P. Palma)

Cops Search For Missing Briton In South RP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 09, 2008) – Police mounted a search Friday for a British national who was reported missing while visiting the southern port city of Zamboanga, reports said.

Local radio reports said James David Rowe was missing since Thursday after he failed to return to his hotel in downtown Zamboanga. Rowe checked in at the Amil Hotel and left with a Filipino man, the Radio Agong reported.

“The foreigner left with a Filipino man and never returned. We reported the matter to the police. We don’t know what happened to him. His things are all inside the room,” a woman at the hotel’s front desk told the Mindanao Examiner.

She said Rowe was alone when he checked in at the hotel, but refused to elaborate further, saying, she is not authorized to talk about it.

Mayor Celso Lobregat has ordered the police to search for the missing foreigner, his spokesperson, Sheila Covarrubias, said. “Police is doing all it can to locate the foreigner,” she said in a separate interview.

Initial police reports, she said, showed that Rowe is engage in buying and selling of automotive spare parts and authorities are investigating whether his business has anything to do with his disappearance.

“At this time, we still do not know what really happened. We can only speculate,” Covarrubias said.

The United States Embassy last month said it received information that extremists may be planning to kidnap Americans or other foreigners at hotels or other public places in Zamboanga City.

It warned Americans not to travel to Zamboanga which had been targeted in the past by Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda terror network.

Australia also issued a similar warning last month and told its citizens not to travel to Zamboanga and other areas in the southern region. Two homemade bombs exploded in Zamboanga City a week after the US and Australian warnings. (Mindanao Examiner)