Reporter, driver killed in Cotabato holdup

KORONADAL CITY , Philippines  – Two people, including a part-time correspondent of a local daily based in Mindanao, were shot dead Sunday night after they resisted a holdup at the highway of Pikit town in North Cotabato, a police official said yesterday.

Senior Inspector Elias Dandan, police chief of Pikit town, identified the victims as Johnny Cadungog, 37, driver of an L-300 passenger van and Romeo Benjomia, 44, a part-time correspondent of Gold Star Daily based in Cagayan de Oro City.

Both the victims were residents of Midsayap town of the said province.

Dandan said the passenger van was loaded with eight passengers when held-up by the suspects, reportedly armed with .45 caliber pistols.

The incident took place at past 7 p.m. Sunday at the highway of Sitio Punol, Barangay Port in Pikit town.

“Pagdating nila sa sitio Punol pinara sila ng isang pasahero pero nang makapasok na sa sasakyan bigla itong sumigaw ng holdap. Lumabas din kaagad ang tatlo pang kasama nito na nagtatago lang sa tabi ng daan,” Dandan said.

Dandan said the suspects then forcibly divested the passengers of their money, jewelries, wallets and valuables.

He said one of the suspects shot Benjomia in his chest when he resisted giving his laptop computer.

Cadungog, on the other hand, was shot in the head by another suspect when he attempted to start the van’s engine and drove it toward the nearby police station and Army checkpoints.

After shooting the victims, the suspects fled on foot to unknown directions with undetermined cash, cellular phones and other belongings of the passengers.

Dandan said one of the passengers, who knows how to drive, rushed the victims to Cruzado Hospital in Pikit proper but they were declared dead on arrival by the attending physicians.

Members of Pikit police and Army troops of the 7th Infantry Battalion are still conducting manhunt operations against the suspects, alleged to be members of the lost command of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) operating in the said province. – With John Unson