North Cotabato college official hurt in ambush; cops hunt for 2 suspects

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Police in North Cotabato are hunting down two men who ambushed and injured an executive of a state college on Saturday.

Supt. Bernard Tayong, North Cotabato police spokesperson, identified the victim as Dr. Cedric Mantawil, planning officer of the Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology (CFCST).

Tayong said Mantawil, former town councilor of Kabacan, North Cotabato. before becoming a school executive, was driving his car from the CFCST and was negotiating a curve in Sitio Upper Ipuan, Barangay Poblacion, President Roxas, North Cotabato at8:10 a.m.when two men riding tandem on a motorbike overtook him and opened fire.

“Apparently, the gunmen tailed his car from Arakan town,” Tayong told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Mantawil was hit in the arm and was taken by passersby to the North Cotabato provincial hospital in Barangay Amas, Kidapawan City.

Tayong said that as Sunday, investigators were still determining the motive and identities of the suspects who fled toward the hinterlands of President Roxas.  SFM