North Cotabato Village Chair Survives Ambush

Police have launched manhunt against two men who tried to kill a village chairperson of a communist rebel-infested town of Magpet in North Cotabato on Tuesday morning, a provincial police officer said Wednesday.

Supt. Bernard Tayong, speaking for the North Cotabato provincial police office, said that Magpet police personnel, backed by the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion, have been pursuing a lead that could result to the identification and arrest of the suspects.

The target of the ambush, Ferdinand Cariaga, chairperson of Barangay Salab, Magpet survived the assassin’s bullets at about 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Chief Inspector Jose Molina, Magpet police chief, said Cariaga was driving his motorbike heading toward the town proper to join the Municipal Peace and Order Council (MPOC) meeting at 9 a.m. when ambushed by still unidentified gunmen.

Tayong said residents nearby rushed Cariaga to the Kidapawan Medical Specialist Hospital in Kidapawan City and he remained conscious although critically wounded on his chest, abdomen, and thigh.

Tayong also said Cariaga, who was alone while on a motorbike, underwent surgical operation at about noon Tuesday.

Police and military probers believed the New People’s Army was behind the ambush due to Cariaga’s strong stance against the rebels in his village. (PNA)