Manhunt launched for killers of gov’t engineer in North Cotabato

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Police in North Cotabato have launched a province-wide manhunt for two men who shot and seriously wounded an engineer working for a government irrigation project in the province, and another man on Friday.

Superintendent Danilo Peralta, North Cotabato police provincial director, has directed the police in Pikit, North Cotabato, to intensify the manhunt against two men who were riding in tandem on a motorbike and who shot 50-year-old Engr. Akmad Adam Pangilamen of Masulot Construction.

Pangilamen of Limbo, Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao, was riding in tandem with Mustapha Galay, 31, of Barangay (village) Tapodoc, Aleosan, North Cotabato from Pikit to Midsayap town when shot by the gunmen.

Both sustained gunshot wounds in the legs and neck, Senior Inspector Mautin Pangandiman, Pikit police chief, said.

The shooting happened in Barangay Langayen, Pikit, at 8:50 a.m. Friday. Both have been recuperating at a hospital in nearby Midsayap town, police said.

The victim has been working with the Masulot construction company, a subcontractor in a government project on the Malitubog-Maridagao irrigation system that supplies water to about 16,000 hectares of farmland in North Cotabato and Maguindanao.