C. Mindanao bombing suspect finally nabbed

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – After a month-long surveillance, a Moro ordnance expert, who had a P1.5-million bounty for his involvement in more than a dozen deadly bombings in Central Mindanao in recent years, was finally arrested at the Maguindanao-Sultan Kudarat boundary, police said yesterday.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (CIDG-ARMM) announced the arrest of Kaharudin Lacman Silongan only yesterday as his exact identity had gone through extensive verification.

Silongan is also known among local Moro secessionist factions as Commander Tagah Dagadas, whose group is operating in secluded areas at the boundary of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat. 

CIDG-ARMM agents cornered Silongan at the border of Ampatuan town and Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat while onboard a passenger jeepney bound for the town proper of Shariff Aguak, also in Maguindanao. 

Silongan was ranked 17th in the list of most wanted men in the country, according to the CIDG-ARMM.

Silongan, a known henchman of foreign-trained bomber Basit Usman, was implicated in bombings of buses, transport terminals and commercial establishments in Central Mindanao from early 2000 to late 2007. 

Police recommended that Silongan be detained outside of Mindanao to prevent his cohorts from “rescuing” him.

Silongan was arrested by virtue of a warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 23 in North Cotabato in connection with a bombing attack in 2007 in Kidapawan City. 

Silongan was also tagged as among a group of foreign-trained bombers behind a spate of recent bombings in Koronadal City, Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao.