Wandering Bohol man quizzed on Abu Sayyaf freed, cleared by police

Albert Laguna is seen being interrogated by the police in Clarin town, Bohol, on Apr. 25, 2017, after he was found wandering in Barangay Bacani, the site of the recent clash between Abu Sayyaf members and government troops in Clarin. The identity of Laguna, a civilian suffering from mental illness, was later confirmed by officials of Catigbian in Bohol, where he resides. Laguna has been freed and cleared of ties to Abu Sayyaf. (PHOTO BY LEO UDTOHAN / INQUIRER VISAYAS)

Update

CEBU CITY — An exhausted and hungry-looking man who was detained at the police station here on suspicion of being an Abu Sayyaf straggler turned out to be not a member of the Abu Sayyaf at all, the local police said.

Clarin Mayor Allen Ray Piezas said the man was identified as Albert Laguna by police and local officials of Catigbian town.

Laguna, a resident of Barangay Amboan, Catigbian, was said to be suffering from mental illness, the mayor said.

The man was later turned over to the police station in Catigbian.

Laguna, looking hungry, tired and disoriented, was found wandering in Clarin town and was held for interrogation at the local  police station on Tuesday morning on suspicion that he was part of the Abu Sayyaf group being hunted by government troops.

The man, apparently a stranger to the rest of the community in Clarin, was apprehended past 8 a.m. on Tuesday in Sitio Redland in Barangay Bacani in Clarin — the site of a firefight since Saturday.

A police officer tracked him and chased him on the road. When collared, the man refused to answer questions from the policeman.

At around 9 a.m., he was brought to the station for interrogation.

Police had said the suspect resembled a man linked to the Abu Sayyaf and identified only by the alias “Richard,” whom government troops had been hunting down.  He looked thinner than the “Richard” sought by government troops based on the available description of him. The man also looked exhausted and hungry.

When asked for his name, he only replied “Albert.”  SFM/rga

In this Apr. 22, 2017 file photo, soldiers hunt down the remaining six Abu Sayyaf members who have fled to Barangay Bacani, Clarin town, Bohol after their leader, Joselito Melloria and a member were killed. (PHOTO BY LEO UDTOHAN /INQUIRER VISAYAS)