SOUTH COTABATO
Worker linked to massacre held
Police Arrested a banana plantation worker on suspicion of involvement in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in T’boli town on Sunday.
Norhato M. Kamino, alias “Alfiche Banding,” who once worked for the powerful Ampatuan political clan in Datu Unsay, Maguindanao, disappeared after the massacre of 58 people, including journalists, in Ampatuan town on Nov. 23, 2009, said Senior Insp. Lorenzo Henares, Makar police station chief.
Kamino, who was among the nearly 200 suspects ordered arrested for the killings, resurfaced in Margus in Glan, Sarangani province, months after the massacre before finding work at a banana plantation in T’boli, South Cotabato, Henares said.
The suspect will be flown to Manila to join others detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. Aquiles Z. Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao
NORTH COTABATO
3 killed in clash with Moro rebels
Three people, including a militiaman, were killed in a clash triggered by an attack by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in a village in Kabacan town on Monday, the military said.
The rebels, led by Commander Pax Kadatuan, fired at houses in Barangay Lower Paatan at around 6 a.m., said Col. Banjamin Hao, 7th Infantry Battalion commander.
Militiamen engaged them in a firefight but one member of the Civilian Auxiliary Force (CAF) was killed, Hao said. The fatality was not identified.
Two rebels were also killed when Army soldiers and policemen arrived and drove the BIFF forces out of the village center, said Col. Prudencio Asto of the 6th Infantry Division.
Hao said sporadic firefight was still going on as Kadatuan’s group fled toward Maguindanao. A number of residents have left fled the village after the attack, but Hao said the place was “already secured.”
Asto said Kadatuan was the same BIFF commander, who figured in last week’s clashes with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, over a land dispute. It was not yet clear what prompted the BIFF attack on Lower Paatan, he added. Edwin Fernandez and Williamor Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao
ISABELA
4 dead in road crash
Four people, including a 26-year-old pregnant woman, were killed on Wednesday when a jeepney struck them along the shoulder of the national highway in Barangay Manaring in Ilagan City.
Two others were seriously injured.
Superintendent Roberto Bucad, city police chief, identified those killed as Erlinda Cabasal, 50, and her son Oliver, 11; Rhea Omengan-Salas, who was 8 months pregnant, and her daughter Joantyh, 2.
Confined at the Faustino Dy Sr. Memorial Hospital were Delia de la Cruz, 33, and Mary Ann Alvarez, 37.
The victims were on their way to fetch discarded rice husks for fuel from a dump when they were hit by the jeepney driven by Claudio Lucas, 51, Bucad said. Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon
Robbers kill maid
Robbers killed the maid of an architect on Wednesday when they ransacked his two-story house at City Homes Subdivision in Barangay Alibagu, Ilagan City, police said.
Investigators said the thieves tied Sanchita Sagayaga, 38, and clubbed her head with a hard object. The victim worked for architect Isagani Mangaoay.
Members of the Mangaoay family were tending to their glassware store at the market when the robbers broke into the house and took P32,000 cash, assorted jewelry and personal gadgets. Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon