PIKIT, North
Cotabato—Anti-drug operatives from the Central Mindanao police office killed a former town councilor
here, arrested the son of the town’s deputy police chief and seized high-powered firearms, including
one considered to be missing in the aftermath of the 2015 Mamasapano clash.
Supt. Maximo
Sebastian, head of the Central Mindanao Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force (RAIDSOTF),
identified the slain former town councilor as Dindo Piang who, he said, opened fire at lawmen during
the 4 a.m. raid.
“He fired first, we responded accordingly,” Sebastian told reporters.
Piang ran but lost in the town’s vice mayoral race during the May 2016 polls.
Sebastian
said they also arrested the son of deputy town police chief, Senior Insp. Sindatu Karim, during
another raid, also on Tuesday.
He said seized from the house of Nasser Karim were four M16
rifles, one of which turned out to be among the missing firearms of the police’s Special Action Force
(SAF) in the aftermath of the Mamasapano clash, and two M-14 rifles.
Forty-four SAF
troopers were killed in the said clash, which was triggered by an operation against Malaysian bomber
Zulkifli Bin Hir alias Marwan.
“We are determining how the (firearm) reached Nasser Karim,”
Sebastian said.
In South Cotabato, Juner Coronado and Vicente Yungco, Jr., village
chieftains of Koronadal and Poblacion, respectively, in Polomolok town were also arrested for violation
of the firearms law.
Supt. Romeo Galgo, Jr., the Central Mindanao police information chief,
said authorities seized a grenade, assorted firearms and ammunition from the two officials during the
conduct of a simultaneous raid.
“The arrest of the two local officials by lawmen only showed
that the government is not selective in enforcing the law, whoever or whatever his or her position or
status in society. Anyone who violates the law is answerable, and our duty is just to enforce it,” he
said. RAM/rga
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