COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao del Norte, Philippines – If you surrender, I’ll give you P500,000. If not, I will give P300,000 to people who can tell me all about you, including the information on where to find you.
This was essentially the message of Mayor Mohammad Bruce Matabalao of this city to the gunman who killed Faizal Malagiok, his trusted staff member, in Barangay Semba, Datu Odin Sinsuat town of Maguindanao del Norte province at 7 p.m. of March 9.
Matabalao made this proposition in a video message posted on his personal Facebook page on Sunday.
“If the gunman is listening or viewing this, I offer you P500,000 for your voluntary surrender,” the mayor said in the video message in the local dialect.
“If your family will bring you in, I will give them the P500,000. (But) I am (also) offering P300,000 to anybody who could provide information about the identity and the whereabouts of the gunman who ended Popeye’s precious life,” he added.
The mayor then urged the Datu Odin Sinsuat police to intensify their investigation, “as the Cotabato City police is willing to provide assistance to identify the perpetrators.”
Malagiok, 40, popularly known as “Popeye” to those close to him, sustained six gunshot wounds in the head fired by the assailant, according to Matabalao.
‘Totally defenseless’
The mayor also sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation to speed up the investigation into Malagiok’s murder.
The mayor said Matabalo had no known enemies and did not deserve such a brutal death.
“We are deeply saddened by Popeye’s death because we believe there’s no reason for anyone to kill a defenseless person like him. He was shot six times in the head, totally defenseless, the real intention of his attackers was to kill him,” the mayor said in vernacular.
Matabalao described Popeye as a “reliable staff and a good friend.”
“Thank you, Popeye, for your service to the people. But most of all, thank you for the friendship,” he added.
The mayor said he was also closely working with the police to solve Malagiok’s murder.
Maj. Regie Albellera, chief of the Datu Odin Sinsuat police, said their investigators remained clueless as to who was behind the murder of the mayor’s aide.