Suspects behind Arakan ambush still unidentified

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — Investigators are clueless on identities of suspects behind Sunday’s fatal ambush in Arakan town of the chief civil security officer of North Cotabato’s provincial government.

Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, chairperson of the inter-agency provincial peace and order council, condemned the incident and urged the police to identify the culprits and file corresponding criminal charges against them.

Mendoza’s slain subordinate, Bernabe Abanilla, was to pull over along a street near the entrance to a Catholic church in Arakan when motorcycle riding gunmen came close and opened fire at his pick-up truck with pistols. Arakan is a hinterland town west of North Cotabato province.

Abanilla and a companion, Degaulle Semillano, who sustained gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies, both died while being rushed to a hospital.

Chief Insp. Felix Fornan of the municipal police said investigators are still trying to establish the identities of the gunmen and their motive for the attack.

The incident triggered panic among churchgoers, who were forced to scamper away to different directions.

“It was not the first attempt on his life. There must be a deeper reason for it. The police should do everything to identify his killers,” Mendoza told The STAR via a text message.

Mendoza said she had ordered the provincial police director, Senior Supt. Alex Tagum, to launch a massive hunt for the killers of Abanilla and Semillano.