Reward up for info on alleged rape-slay of Mangudadatu’s relative

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu on Tuesday offered an earnest reward for leads that can help solve the fabled rape-slay of a relative-adolescent girl in Buluan town in Maguindanao last week.

Mangudadatu, presiding chair of the Maguindanao provincial peace and order council on Tuesday confirmed to The Star the arrest of three suspects in the atrocity, now undergoing inquest proceedings.

The suspects were tagged as among a group that barged into a canteen in an Islamic Madrasah school in Buluan and set the building on fire.

“The victim is related to the family of my mother,” Mangudadatu said.

Text messages, purporting that the suspects had raped the victim first before she was murdered, circulated a day after the incident.

Responding policemen and barangay officials found on the floor of the burnt canteen the charred remains of the victim, who works in the school.

“The three arrested suspects are now in police custody. They are now being interrogated to determine their involvement in the crime,” Mangudadatu said.

He said he is ready to shell out an earnest amount in exchange for vital information needed to put closure to the case.

Mangudadatu said investigators are yet to establish if the slain student was molested.

“But we can only establish that if we have witnesses, or if there is confession from the suspects. We need witnesses,” Mangudadatu said.

Buluan’s municipal police chief, Inspector Victorino Pansoy, said intelligence operatives are helping determine the exact identities of several other suspects who are still at large.