PNP tightens security in Lamitan

MANILA, Philippines — Police have tightened security in Lamitan City, Basilan, following Friday’s shooting to death of the father of the gunman who shot and killed former city mayor Rosita Furigay, and two others at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City last week.

Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr., officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP), ordered the heightened security in compliance with the order of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

“We adhered to the mandate of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and beefed up border controls to halt the possible escape of the gunmen,” Danao said in a statement.

On Friday, unidentified men on motorcycle shot dead 69-year old Rolando Yumol in front of his house on Rizal Street in Lamitan. He was the father Chao-Tiao Yumol who went on a shooting rampage at the Ateneo campus, killing Furigay, her aide Victor Capistrano, and university guard Jeneven Bandiala on Sunday last week.

Danao said initial investigation has not yet established link between the Ateneo shooting and the murder of the elder Yumol.

“Let the probe take its course. We need concrete proof to establish the motive (in the elder Yumol’s killing),” he said.

Col. Pedro Martirez, Basilan police director, also said in an interview with dzBB that it is premature to connect the elder Yumol’s murder to the killings perpetrated by his son.

The Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region based in Maguindanao has sent a team to Lamitan City to help in the investigation upon orders from its director, Brig. Gen. Arthur Cabalona.

“We are, meantime, calling on residents of Lamitan City and immediate family and relatives of Mr. Yumol to give investigators enough time to identify who his killers were,” Cabalona said.

Social media consequence

For Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, social media posts on contentious issues between the Yumol and Furigay families might have fanned the violence.

“I have been looking into what contribution social media had, leading to this incident,” Hataman told “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s OneNews channel Friday night. Hataman is pushing for stricter regulations on social media posts.

Hataman – a long-time political ally of the Furigays – lamented how social media platform Facebook had been used to attack the Furigay couple, not only by the shooter, Yumol, but also by those supporting the latter.

“They (Rosita and Mayor Roderick Furigay) were accused of being drug lords, thieves, and killers,” said the lawmaker, adding that the couple had to take the legal route by filing cyber libel charges against Yumol.

But netizens went on to defend Yumol’s actions, said Hataman. “There were some who tolerated (Yumol’s attack on Furigay) that it is okay to kill because he was a victim; he was charged and just a small person going up against someone in government,” he said.

Meanwhile, the arraignment of Yumol for a string of cases including multiple murder has been set for Aug. 4 by a Quezon City court.

An insider who spoke on condition of anonymity said the QC Regional Trial Court Branch 98 has scheduled Yumol’s arraignment at 9 a.m.

He is facing three counts of murder and a frustrated murder for shooting Furigay’s daughter, Hannah Rose Marian. Yumol is also facing malicious mischief and violations of Republic Act 10883 (Car Theft Law) and RA 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act).

He was transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

Superintendent Xavier Solda, BJMP spokesman, said Yumol was turned over by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) to their detention facility in Barangay Payatas in compliance with the court’s order.

Maj. Wennie Ann Cale, QCPD spokesperson, confirmed that Yumol was no longer in their custody. — John Unson