Vendetta angle eyed on Lanao Sur PDEA team ambush

LANAO DEL SUR - Local leaders want the police to check on a local drug ring that they blame for last week’s fatal ambush of five anti-narcotics agents in Kapai, Lanao del Sur.Meranao leaders told reporters Monday there are persistent feedback from their constituents, mostly residents of Lanao del Sur’s neighboring Kapai and Tagoloan towns, purporting that the ambushers were erstwhile henchmen of a former municipal mayor who was rumored to have once engaged in drug trafficking.Local officials said the ambush that resulted in the gory deaths of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency personnel Kenneth Tabulo, Binzo Dipolla, Diobel Pacinio, Kristina Mae Torlao and Laurice Joy Amar, could be in retaliation for the demise of a drug dealer while in custody of authorities several months before.The detainee was reportedly killed for attempting to attack his custodians. That former mayor has nothing to do with the ambush perpetrated by his former followers. We just have to emphasize the connections for the police to easily identify them and not destroy that former local executive, said a leader who belongs to the Meranao nobility.The remains of the slain PDEA-ARMM agents are now in a chapel in Camp Siongco, the command center of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division, located in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.PDEA-ARMM officials said they are expecting national officials of the agency to arrive Tuesday to pay respect.The ARMM-Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team, or HEART, has released P100,000 cash assistance to the families of each of the five slain agents.The monetary grant was delivered to the Camp Siongco chapel on Sunday morning as ordered by ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.Hataman has ministerial control over HEART, operating in the autonomous region for more than four years now. We were saddened by the incident. We want their killers jailed for their heinous offense, Hataman said on Monday.Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of PRO-ARMM said Monday probers are now validating tips on the identities of the suspects from local officials and members of the Meranao royalty.Mijares said the PRO-ARMM is thankful to Lanao del Sur Gov. Soraya Alonto-Adiong and members of the provincial peace and order council for helping in the investigation. We just need to give them time to wrap up everything. I can assure the PDEA and the people of Lanao del Sur that everything is being done for justice to reign, Mijares said.Hataman and the vice governor of Lanao del Sur, Mamintal Adiong, Jr., separately offered on Saturday earnest incentives for any information leading to the arrest of the suspects.