2 dead in separate Sultan Kudarat ambush incidents

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two residents of Sultan Kudarat province were killed in separate ambush incidents late Friday, December 6.

The first to perish in the two gun attacks is farmer Aldrin Ablaneda, who was driving his tricycle, on his way home from somewhere, when gunmen shot him with pistols while motoring through a secluded stretch of a highway in Barangay Kabulakan in Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat.

In a report released on Saturday morning, December 7, the Lambayong Municipal Police Station stated that the killers of Ablaneda had escaped before responding volunteer community watchmen and barangay officials could reach the crime scene.

The second ambush fatality, Rel Blanco, is a businessman residing in Tacurong City, also in Sultan Kudarat province, less than 20 kilometers from Lambayong where Ablaneda was killed.

Blanco and his wife were together in a car when gunmen, positioned along an unlit portion of the Alunan Highway in Tacurong City, opened fire as they got close, killing him instantly.

Blanco’s wife survived the ambush unscathed.

Officials of the Tacurong City Police Station and local officials are cooperating in identifying the perpetrators of the ambush that left Blanco dead.