3 kidnapping suspects transferred to Kidapawan jail

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Authorities transferred Wednesday to the provincial penitentiary in Kidapawan City the three kidnappers arrested and detained in Midsayap last Friday due to threats of a possible attack by cohorts out to spring them from the town jail.

The cashiered suspects, Digo Cadi Bagkal, Mohammad Pagayao, and their alleged leader, Adam Guimelon Sansaluna, were nabbed one after another after attempting to abduct Monalita Cedeño, owner of a roadside drugstore at the town proper of Midsayap.

A companion of the three suspects was killed in an ensuing shootout with a responding policeman positioned near the spot where the suspects commandeered the victim’s vehicle in their attempt to snatch and bring her to a riverside area at the border of Midsayap and Datu Piang, Maguindanao.

Supt. Renante Delos Santos, chief of the Midsayap police, said they had to immediately transfer the suspects to the provincial jail due to information from barangay officials that a group is out to rescue the three suspects from the municipal detention facility.

Delos Santos said they have sought the permission of the municipal court for the transfer of Bagcal, Pagayao and Sansaluna, all ethnic Maguindanaons, to the provincial jail.