5 killed in Cotabato in new drive vs kidnappers

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Five suspected kidnappers were killed in two separate encounters in North Cotabato yesterday, as authorities intensified their campaign against kidnap gangs.

Three members of the notorious Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang were killed by an anti-crime group led by local officials in Mlang, North Cotabato, while combatants of the Army’s 6th infantry division gunned down two more kidnappers in another encounter in President Roxas, also a town in North Cotabato.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, identified the three suspected kidnappers killed in Mlang as siblings Burgo and Bashier Guiamadel, and a certain Sabatin.

The three were implicated in more than a dozen kidnappings in Mlang and surrounding towns in North Cotabato, including the abduction of Delfin Rasonable, an agricultural trader, in Kidapawan City in 2001.

Piñol said the Guiamadel brothers and Sabatin were intercepted by security forces led by Mlang Mayor Luigi Cuerpo, while on their way to their hideout in Barangay Dungguan of the same town. They were then on board a motorcycle they had earlier stolen in a nearby village.

Piñol said the three resisted arrest and opened fire at local policemen and members of the 39th infantry battalion, provoking a gunfight.

"One of them even pulled out a fragmentation grenade from his pocket, but was promptly neutralized before he could unlock its pin," Pinol told The STAR.

He said investigators recovered from the suspects a .45 Thompson submachinegun, three fragmentation grenades and list of wealthy businessmen in North Cotabato.

Meanwhile, men of the Army’s 6th ID killed two other kidnappers and seized three mortars, 20 kilos of incendiary powders used in making bombs, and assorted firearms, in an hour-long encounter in Barangay Roxas in President Roxas, a hinterland town of North Cotabato.

Army Major Julieto Ando, spokesman of the 6th ID, said the three mortars were left behind by retreating combined MILF and Pentagon forces after the firefight.

The hostilities in Barangay Libpas erupted when the gunmen, led a certain Commander Magtanggol, ambushed a platoon of the 40th infantry battalion sent to check their reported presence in the area.

Magtanggol is brother of the elusive Tahir Alonto, leader of the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang. Alonto, who hails from Pagalungan, Maguindanao, is a former member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and carries a P5-million reward for his head.

Earlier this month, Magtanggol’s group tried to establish a camp in Barangay Polomolok in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat, but were driven away by the military after a four-day offensive.

The kidnappers were believed to have links with the gang behind the abduction in Cagayan de Oro City last Jan. 8 of Apple Tabuado Deen, who was rescued in Cotabato City last Friday.