Region’s Briefs: Murder rap filed vs cops in soldier’s slay

Murder rap filed vs cops in soldier’s slay

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The police have filed a murder complaint against two policemen who shot and killed a soldier in Aurora town in Zamboanga del Sur province. Senior Supt. Anthony Aberin, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Western Mindanao region, said the complaint was filed in the Zamboanga del Sur provincial prosecutor’s office in Pagadian City against PO1 Michael Bullanday and PO2 Ronald Zeros for killing Pfc. Rodilo Bartolome on Aug 23, while the soldier was waiting for a ride home to Midsalip town. Bartolome, reports said, was on a break from the fighting in Marawi City and was scheduled to visit his family when he was attacked by the policemen, who mistook him for a terror suspect. Aberin said Bullanday and Zeros had been disarmed and placed under restricted custody at the Zamboanga del Sur police headquarters. —JULIE ALIPALA

18 guns seized from suspected rebels in Kidapawan

KIDAPAWAN CITY—The military arrested two suspected communist rebels who were seen burying firearms in Barangay Katipunan here on Friday morning. Seized from suspects Wowie Boton, 19, and George Cuyo, 20, were 18 M-16 Armalite rifles in two drums and two hand grenades, said Col. Harold Argamosa, commander of the Philippine Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion. Argamosa said the two men introduced themselves as farmers but soldiers suspected that they were members of the New People’s Army (NPA). According to Argamosa, Katipunan is included on the list of military “hot spots” due to the presence of rebels belonging to the NPA’s Guerrilla Front 53. —EDWIN FERNANDEZ
AND KARLOS MANLUPIG

Policeman, 2 others nabbed in Zamboanga drug bust

ZAMBOANGA CITY—A police officer was arrested by his fellow lawmen in a drug bust in Barangay Kasanyangan here on Wednesday. Chief Insp. Elmer Solon, intelligence and investigation chief of the city police’s Station 11, said members of a police team were surprised to find PO1 Baser Mohammad, 36, a resident of Barangay Ayala, in the house of suspect Harija Sadjail Hayudini, 48. While arresting Hayudini, police found Mohammad, who was in uniform, and Al-Hafidz Omar Akil, 29, sniffing “shabu” (crystal meth) in the house. The arrest of Mohammad, who has been in the police service for the last nine years, and his two companions brought to 116 the number of suspects arrested in police antidrug operations in the city last month. —JULIE ALIPALA