PSG arrests cop during GMA’s Kudarat visit

KORONADAL CITY — The Presidential Security Group (PSG), together with intelligence operatives of the Sultan Kudarat police, arrested a Maguindanao policeman who was found armed with a caliber .45 pistol near the landing site of the chopper of President Arroyo last Tuesday morning.

Superintendent Danilo Posadas, police chief of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, identified the policeman as PO2 Mustapha Mohammad Cayo, who is assigned to Datu Montawal town in Maguindanao.

Maguindanao is one of the provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Posadas said Cayo, who was in civilian clothes, was standing within the 150-meter radius from the inner circle of Mrs. Arroyo.

No policeman or soldier, except with PSG authority, is allowed to carry a firearm within this radius.

During interrogation, Posadas said Cayo told the PSG that he was on his way to the house of his fireman-uncle nearby when he decided to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Arroyo.

Cayo was subsequently released after nearly two hours of interrogation and verification of his identity.

Based on the police blotter, Cayo came out of the Isulan police station at about 1:30 p.m., or a few minutes after Mrs. Arroyo had left the luncheon meeting hosted by Gov. Datu Pax Mangudadatu and his son, Rep. Datu Teng Mangudadatu, at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan hall.

Mrs. Arroyo led the ground-breaking of the P20-million, two-story provincial hospital in Barangay Kenram in Isulan town.

Meanwhile, a 55-year-old high school teacher claimed that a K-9 dog of the Army’s 604th Infantry Brigade bit his hand near the entrance of the provincial gymnasium during Mrs. Arroyo’s visit.

Romeo Cantil, a teacher of the Isulan National High School, told The STAR that the K-9’s handler, Army S/Sgt. William Juanga, rushed him to the provincial hospital but later left him without saying any word.

Cantil said he waited for several hours but no subsequent help came.

He said he later sought Posadas’ assistance, but the latter simply advised him to enter the incident in the police blotter.

Cantil said he is cash-strapped to buy anti-rabies vaccine.