Duterte cite heroism of slain PDEA agents with posthumous medals

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao--- President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday awarded with posthumous citations the five anti-narcotics agents killed in an ambush in Lanao del Sur last Friday.Duterte and Director General Aaron Aquino of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency turned over to the families of the slain PDEA agents the Order of Lapu-Lapu Kalasag Medals during a simple 45-minute rite in the chapel of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin, Maguindanao.Duterte huddled briefly with relatives of Kenneth Tabulo, Binzo Dipolla, Diobel Pacinio, Kristina Mae Torlao and Laurice Joy Amar of the PDEA-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and left without any traditional public message that reporters expected.Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi and ARMM’s regional vice governor, Haroun Al-Rashid Alonto Lucman, both staunch supporters of PDEA’s anti-narcotics operations, were also present in the event.The five PDEA-ARMM agents were on their way to Marawi City from a dialogue with reforming former drug dependents in Tagoloan town when their vehicle was shot with assault rifles by gunmen while in a secluded stretch of the Tagoloan-Marawi Highway in Barangay Malna in Kapai, Lanao del Sur.Multiple murder and double frustrated murder charges were filed against the suspects and two John Does on Wednesday.PDEA-ARMM agent Rachel Gentapanan and a non-uniformed employee of the Tagoloan municipal police, Normina Dicay, were wounded in the ambush, both still confined in a hospital.Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-ARMM told reporters at the sideline of Duterte’s engagement in Camp Siongco there are continuing efforts to find and arrest the ambushers.In an earlier report to Mijares, PRO-ARMM investigators said the suspects belong to a drug ring led by a barangay chairman named William Gandawali of Barangay Inudaran in Tagoloan. Cases had been filed against them. We ought to thank the provincial and municipal officials and traditional Meranao elders in Lanao del Sur for helping us identify them, Mijares said.Besides Gandawali, also implicated in the atrocity were his son, Oscar, his nephew Aiman Palawan Salem Macalabo Lala and Jamal, both surnamed Amboloto Mizangcad Panonde and Aiman Guro, also surnamed Gandawali, and Jamel Borar. Our units in Lanao del Sur are now doing their best to locate and arrest them, Mijares said.Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, said Thursday Army intelligence agents based in Lanao del Sur and Marawi City are now helping track them down.Multiple murder and double frustrated murder charges were filed against the suspects and two John Does on Wednesday.The Lanao del Sur provincial police said the gunmen are relatives of drug suspect Comayog Macapagal, who was killed in a drug raid in Marawi last Aug. 8.Mijares said the relatives of the slain suspect had reportedly threatened to avenge his death.Police said they received reports that Macapagal’s nephew, who lived with the fatality in Marawi, gathered their relatives and planned the attack.The PDEA-ARMM agents were together in a van on their way back to their office in Marawi City when they were waylaid.Lucman, now in his second term as ARMM regional vice governor, said it was local officials in the adjoining Kapai and Tagoloan towns who provided leads that resulted in the prompt identification of the ambushers. I know the incumbent local officials there. They are very supportive of the government’s anti-narcotics thrusts, Lucman said.The municipality of Kapai was earlier tagged drug-cleared by PDEA after the agency has confirmed, via a validation process, that there are no more drug traffickers and dependents in the area.