Father and son tagged in murder of cop arrested

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Pursuing police teams cornered on Tuesday afternoon, May 27, in a town more than a hundred kilometers away the two suspects in the murder in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat of a policeman before dawn the same day.

Local executives, among them members of the South Cotabato Provincial Peace and Order Council, confirmed to reporters on Wednesday morning, May 28, the arrest in  Barangay Sulit in Polomolok town in the province of Vincent Dalanon, Jr., who had shot dead Police Master Sgt. Geoffrey Demorito Angub in Barangay Kalawag 2 in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat before dawn Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Arnold Ardiente, director of the Police Regional Office-12, said the suspect and his father, also involved in the atrocity, are now both detained, awaiting prosecution for their criminal offense.

Witnesses had told officials of the Isulan Municipal Police Station that the 25-year-old Dalanon killed Angub with a pistol while he was walking along an unlit stretch of a street in Barangay Kalawag 2.

Dalanon perpetrated the atrocity in the presence of his father, Vincent Sr., according to witnesses.

The 45-year-old Angub belonged to the Bagumbayan Municipal Police Station in the hinterland Bagumbayan town, which is not too distant from Barangay Kalawag 2 in Isulan, where his family resides.

Barangay officials and investigators from the Isulan municipal police force had earlier said that the Dalanons, also residing in Barangay Kalawag 2 and whose family owns a small construction outfit, immediately escaped towards South Cotabato using a getaway vehicle after the deadly incident.

Ardiente said he is thankful to the confidential informants who helped the director of the Sultan Kudarat provincial police, Col. Bernard Lao, and officials of different PRO-12 units in South Cotabato locate both suspects in Barangay Sulit, a secluded area in Polomolok.