Authorities launch hunt vs. gunmen in Maguindanao treasurer ambush

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Authorities are still clueless on Friday’s bloody attempt to rob the provincial treasurer of payroll money at a secluded stretch of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway in Guindulungan, Maguindanao.

Maguindanao’s provincial treasurer, Osmena Bandila, and his two police escorts, were wounded in the attack and now undergoing medication at a hospital in Cotabato City.

The police and the military launched a massive hunt for their ambushers, who fled after sensing that they failed to neutralize Bandila and his companions, whose grey Toyota Fortuner they shot with M14 and M16 assault rifles while in Barangay Macasampen in Guindulungan, en route to Buluan town in the second district of the province.

Senior Supt. Rudilio Jocson, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, said the ambushers were obviously after the money Bandila was to bring to the provincial satellite office in Buluan.

“It was just fortunate that the policemen escorting the provincial treasurer managed to return fire, preventing their ambushers from closing in,” Jocson told reporters.

Jocson said the payroll money was found intact inside the victims’ bullet-riddled vehicle. 

Jocson, however, did not reveal the amount of the recovered cash intended for the salaries of provincial employees, which was withdrawn from a government bank in Cotabato City earlier Friday.   

The attackers reportedly arrived at the scene on board an old Toyota Tamaraw jeepney, with license plates MVK 846, an hour before they ambushed Bandila and his companions,

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, chairman of the provincial peace and order council, said he is ready to shell out an earnest amount in exchange for any information that would lead to the arrest of the ambushers.