P500K reward offered for arrest Cotabato City disaster unit chief's killers

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The mayor here has offered a P500,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the  killers of the operations chief of the Cotabato City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, who died in an ambush along a busy thoroughfare here last week.

The slain Jose Raymond Marquez, 42, most known here as "Choco," was buried on Friday in a cemetery in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte.

Members of his immediate family and Cotabato City police director Col. Querubin Manalang Jr. confirmed to reporters on Saturday that Mayor Mohammad Ali Matabalao, who is chairman of the inter-agency, multi-sector Cotabato City and Order Council, had offered a P500,000 cash incentive for any informant who can positively identify the gunmen behind the fatal ambush of Marquez.

Marquez was riding his motorcycle when he was attacked along Sinsuat Avenue here by gunmen at past 9:00 p.m. on March 1, killing him in the spot.

His attackers, armed with .45 caliber pistols, immediately escaped using getaway motorcycles, according to witnesses. Police investigators found at least three empty shells of .45 caliber ammunition in the crime scene.

Matabalao has condemned the incident, which shocked the employees of the Cotabato City local government unit.

Marquez, a scion of the Ante and Marquez clans that are both among the city's pioneer Catholic clans, worked directly under the mayor's office.

Besides his relatives and friends, rescuers from private volunteer organizations and emergency responders from different government agencies attended Friday's funeral rites for Marquez.