Policewoman, Abu suspect married in Muslim rites – police official

Supt. Cristina Nobleza and Renierlo Dongon. (Photos from the PNP file and  Leo Udtohan, Inquirer Visayas)

CEBU CITY — Supt. Maria Cristina Nobleza and suspected Abu Sayyaf member Renierlo Dongon are not just lovers.

They are married since tying the knot in Muslim rites several years ago, according to Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).

“Dongon himself admitted that they are married. Superintendent Nobleza converted to Islam so they could tie the knot,” he said on Wednesday.

Nobleza was previously married to Supt. Allan Nobleza, a police attaché to Pakistan. In 2010, upon the request of Allan and Maria Cristina, the court annulled their marriage.

Nobleza, an elderly woman named Judith and a 13-year-old boy were on board a black Nissan Navara pickup driven by Dongon when they were taken into police custody for refusing to stop at a checkpoint in Clarin town in Bohol on Saturday evening. Government troops have been pursuing the remaining Abu Sayyaf members in the area after the bandits first landed in Inabanga, Bohol weeks ago.

Found inside the vehicle of Nobleza and Dongon were bottles of energy drink, canned goods, diving gear, goggles, biscuits, boxes of chocolates, male underwear, T-shirts, shorts for men and medical kits.

Taliño said Nobleza, the deputy chief of the PNP Crime Laboratory in Davao City, has admitted that they intended to deliver medicines to the remaining Abu Sayyaf members who were trapped in Clarin, Bohol.
But the policewoman denied that they were trying to rescue the bandits, according to Taliño.

The Central Visayas police director said the plan was to drop off the medical supplies somewhere convenient to the bandits.  “Accordingly, their plan was allegedly just to throw the medicines,” Taliño said.

Nobleza was charged at the Bohol Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for illegal possession of firearms, resistance and disobedience to agents of persons in authority, and harboring of a criminal. Dongon and Judith were charged with resistance and disobedience to the agent of persons in authority.

On the orders of Philippine National Police Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Nobleza and Dongon are now detained in Camp Crame while the Bohol prosecutor holds the preliminary investigation for the filing of charges with the court.

The luggage allegedly containing bomb components and belonging to Supt. Maria Cristina Nobleza and Renierlo Dongon, are turned to the police. (PHOTO BY LEO UDTOHAN / INQUIRER VISAYAS)

The elderly woman remains in the custody of the Bohol Provincial Police Office while the minor was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

In a 2013 news report, Brig. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, then commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said Dongon served as leader of the Khalifah Islamiya and was arrested along with an associate by police intelligence operatives in Marawi City on May 11, 2013.

The operation led to the seizure of 29 pieces of blasting caps and other materials in manufacturing bombs.

Dongon, however, was subsequently released because the name on the search warrant was that of his younger brother.

Dongon was allegedly responsible for the bombing of Maxandrea Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City in 2012 that killed two people.

The case against Dongon was dismissed by the prosecutor due to a technicality.

Taliño said they would file additional charges against Nobleza and Dongon for possession of explosives, a non-bailable offense.

On Monday evening, the police recovered components for an improvised explosive device from the luggage of the couple that were left in the apartment they had been renting in Barangay Looc on Panglao Island, Bohol. Among those recovered by the police were a C-4 plastic explosive, a detonating cord, a blasting cap, and a blasting cap kit.  SFM