2 cops, 2 tanods cited for unmasking terror group

CAMP MAKABULOS, Tarlac — On "verbal orders" of Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza, two Tarlac policemen were promoted to the next higher rank for having uncovered an alleged local terrorist group suspected of having links with the global al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

Camp Crame also awarded plaques of recognition to tanods Severino Gomez and Cristituto Gallevo, both of Barangay San Nicolas here, for informing the police about the suspicious presence of seven alleged terrorists in their community last May 1.

Promoted were SPO3 Pascual de los Reyes and PO2 Daniel Ligsay, who led a team of provincial and Tarlac City policemen which responded to the tanods’ report.

The operation resulted in a pre-dawn encounter at a transport terminal in Barangay San Nicolas that resulted in the killing of suspected terrorist Khalid Amir Trinidad and the arrest of Dexter Mayuno, alias Omar, a native of Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur. Five other suspects managed to escape.

Mayuno confessed to belonging to an alleged terrorist group called "Haraka (The Movement)," and revealed that he and his companions planned to sow terror in Tarlac City on Labor Day by lobbing grenades on commercial establishments and public places.

Mayuno said their group was allegedly led by one Sheik Hamod, a Saudi national based in the island town of Anda, Pangasinan, and a certain Abdurakman "Abdul" Quirante, an Islamic teacher in the upland Sitio Dueg in Barangay Maasin, San Clemente, Tarlac.