ARMM gov’t condemns beheading of village chief

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The multi-sectoral peace and order council in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Thursday condemned the decapitation in Sulu by Abu Sayyaf bandits of a captive snatched last May 4 in Dapitan City.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, presiding chair of the inter-agency council, said the Sulu provincial police will file criminal charges against the captors of Rodolfo Buligao, whose headless cadaver was found by villagers Tuesday in Lungang area in Maimbung.

Maimbung is a seaside town southwest of Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf forces have been operating with impunity since the early 1990s.

"We condemn this brutal, dastardly act. This group really wants to sow terror among our people,” Hataman said in a text message Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Alan Arrojado, commander of the Army-led Joint Task Group Sulu, said police and military probers found a note beside the remains of Buligao, dumped on a road in Barangay Lungang, stating he was chairman of Barangay Aliguay in Dapitan.

Buligao was snatched in Aliguay last May 4 along with two members of the Philippine Coastguard, Rod Pagaling and Gringo Villaruz, by an armed group who immediately brought them to Sulu using a watercraft with an outboard engine.

The Abu Sayyaf bandits who snatched them had earlier warned to execute them if their respective families refuse to shell out a P10 million ransom each.

The police is still clueless on the exact whereabouts of the two Coast Guard members.