Dapitan City barangay chair, 2 Coast Guard men taken at gunpoint

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Armed men abducted the head of a barangay (village) and two members of the Coast Guard from the island community of Aliguay in Dapitan City on Sunday afternoon.

Chief Supt. Edgar Basbas, police chief for Western Mindanao, identified the victims as Barangay Aliguay chair Rodolfo Boligao, Coast Guard Seaman First Class 2 Gringo Villaluz, and Seaman First Class 1 Rod Pagaling.

Basbas said more than a dozen armed men landed on the island village and proceeded to the house of Boligao.

“The barangay chairman was forcibly taken from his house while the two coastguards were abducted from the Barangay Hall,” Basbas said.

Dapitan tourism officer Apple Agolong said Aliguay was a fishing sanctuary and a favorite destination of the local and foreign tourists.

“We believe there is deeper motive here as the place was recently targeted by those engaged in compressor fishing,” Agolong said.