Cotabato merchant shot, robbed

COTABATO CITY— A merchant was shot and wounded by one of three gunmen who robbed him at gunpoint in an attack late Sunday nearby Libungan town in Cotabato. The suspects also took his sling bag containing cash.

Juan Librea Bulleque Jr., who has a rice and corn grains business and is engaged in buy-and-sell of other agricultural products from around Libungan, lost P80,000 in the incident.

Col. Harold S. Ramos, Cotabato provincial police director, on Monday said that Bulleque, who has a trading establishment in the public market of Libungan, was attacked while he was about to enter their residential yard in Barangay Kabpangi.

Witnesses told local police probers that one of Bulleque’s three attackers shot him in the upper torso when he resisted and took his sling bag as he fell as they escaped using a motorcycle parked nearby.

Ramos told reporters that personnel of the Libungan Municipal Police Station are now trying to identify the suspects for immediate prosecution.