Sarangani folk join watch vs terrorists

KORONADAL CITY — Some 300 Sarangani volunteers have undergone training to help the police secure their province against terrorists belonging to the Abu Sayyaf and the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah.

Senior Superintendent Efren Valeriano, Sarangani police director, said the 300 volunteers from 140 barangays were trained in intelligence gathering and dealing with members of the two terror groups and other armed groups.

The civilian volunteers, who include both Muslims and Christians, reportedly come from hinterland and isolated areas of Malungon town and coastal villages in Glan, Malapatan, Alabel, Maasim, Kiamba and Maitum towns.

"All of them are now actively involved in securing the provincial territory against the intrusion of criminal and bad elements, like bandits, members of syndicates, robbers, cattle-rustlers and wanted persons," Valeriano told The STAR in a cellular phone interview yesterday.

Valeriano acknowledged the contribution of the volunteers, especially in Glan town, in his campaign to go after wanted persons.

Thanks to information from a volunteer, Glan policemen, led by SP03 Rufo Tuban, and elements of the Regional Criminal Investigation Unit, headed by SPO4 Jovencio Basalo, recently arrested the Ilocos region’s most wanted man, Mark Lester Supangan, in Glan where he had stayed for several years.

Supangan faces 34 counts of rape and car theft with homicide. He was nabbed in a TV repair shop in Barangay Patuco in Balut Island, Sarangani.