Bus company manager, wife killed in Cotabato ambush

COTABATO CITY — Gunmen ambushed and killed a bus company manager and his wife in Barangay Kayaga, Kabacan, Cotabato, on Monday afternoon, February 10.

Col. Gilbert Tuzon, director of the Cotabato Provincial Police Office, told reporters that the spouses, Armando Yap Lu, 79, and his 62-year-old wife, Marilyn Lungakit Lu, were declared dead on arrival by doctors at a hospital where emergency responders had brought them for treatment.

Armando was the manager of a large bus company operating the Cotabato-Davao, Davao-Cotabato, and Cotabato-Cagayan de Oro routes.

He and his wife were traveling together in a gray Toyota Fortuner, on their way home to Carmen, Cotabato, from Kabacan when they were ambushed by gunmen positioned along the highway.

Their vehicle veered off the highway, flipped, and landed on its side after Armando lost control of the wheel due to the multiple bullet wounds he sustained in the attack.

 The slain couple were residents of Barangay Ugalingan in Carmen, the hometown of Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, who condemned the incident

Mendoza, chairperson of the multi-sector Cotabato Provincial Peace and Order Council, has called on officials of the Kabacan Municipal Police Station and local leaders to work together in identifying the gunmen behind the attack.