Reward offered for info on ambush of PDEA agents

LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines — Officials on Saturday condemned the fatal ambush of five anti-narcotics agents in Kapai town and offered cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of the culprits.

Lanao del Sur Gov. Soraya Alonto-Adiong, presiding chairperson of the provincial peace and order council, said the municipal government of Kapai will help identify the culprits for them to be prosecuted for the offense.

The fatalities, Kenneth Tabulo, Kristine May Torlao, Lores Joy Amar, Binzo Dipolla and Diobel Pacinio, all agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement-Agency-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, died of multiple gunshot wounds.

They were on a van from Tagoloan town in Lanao del Sur where they facilitated a dialogue with reforming drug dependents when gunmen positioned at one side of the highway in Barangay Malna, Kapai and shot their vehicle with assault rifles.

Two other passengers of the van, Rachel Gentapanan, also a PDEA-ARMM agent and Normina Dicay, a non-uniformed employee of the local police, were wounded in the attack.

The provincial government of Lanao del Sur assured to help facilitate the transport of the bodies of the PDEA-ARMM agents to their regional office in Cotabato City.

Lanao del Sur Vice Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. and ARMM’s regional chief executive, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, both promised cash incentives for informants who can help the Police Regional Office-ARMM, or PRO-ARMM, identify the culprits.

“We grieve over the deaths of these PDEA-ARMM agents. We in the regional peace and order council want those ambushers identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of law,” Hataman said.

Hataman is chairperson of ARMM’s inter-agency peace and order council, whose members include senior officials of PRO-ARMM and representatives from military units under the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares, director of PRO-ARMM, said Saturday there are indications that the ambush could be related to the unrelenting joint anti-narcotics campaign in Lanao del Sur by the office of the provincial governor, the PDEA and the provincial police office.

“We are still investigating on the incident. We need to give investigators on the ground enough time to identify the people behind those gruesome killings,” Mijares said.