A FORMER mayor of Talitay town in Maguindanao who is in President Duterte’s list of narco politicians was killed in a gun scuffle with policemen in San Juan City yesterday morning, hours after he was arrested in Batangas.
PNP chief Guillermo Eleazar said former Talitay mayor Montasser Sabal and six others were arrested at the port of Batangas in Batangas City at around 7 p.m. Wednesday while aboard the roll-on/roll vessel MV Reina De Luna.
Eleazar said the operation was conducted by operatives of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and other police units by virtue of arrest warrants issued against Sabal for illegal possession of illegal drugs and explosives.
Eleazar said Sabal and three others — Norayda Nandang, 43; Muhaliden Mukaram, 36; and Aika De Asis, 34 — were inside a Toyota van when they were apprehended.
Three others — Ailyn Compania, 45; Zuharto Monico, 45; Wilson Santos, 41 — were collared in a separate vehicle, a Nissan truck, also aboard the roro vessel that was about to depart for the Visayas.
Police seized from them four rifles, two handguns, assorted ammunition, magazines, 400 grams of suspected shabu worth P2.7 million, several mobile phones, identification cards and documents.
At around 5 a.m. along N. Domingo St. in San Juan City, while Sabal and his men were being transported to the CIDG’s National Capital Region office in Camp Crame, Sabal allegedly grabbed the firearm of his police escort inside a police vehicle.
“Sabal tried to escape by grabbing the firearm of his police escort. The scuffle between the suspect and the police escort resulted in the latter to be hit and (the) fatal wounding of Sabal,” Eleazar told a press conference in Camp Crame.
Sabal was rushed to the San Juan Medical Center where he died at around 6:13 am.
“The suspect grabbed his police escort’s firearm while on board the vehicle which resulted in a scuffle wherein he was able to shoot the police officer beside him. Posing danger, the accompanying police officers (were) prompted to use reasonable force that resulted in wounding the arrested person through the use of his firearm,” said CIDG Director Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro.
Eleazar said the police escort was wearing a vest and was not injured.
“The arrest of ex-mayor Sabal and his companions is part of the continuing effort of the PNP, primarily through the CIDG under Oplan Pagtugis, to account (for) wanted persons with outstanding warrants of arrest,” said Eleazar.
He said Sabal, who served as Talitay mayor from 2010 to 2013 and vice mayor from 2013 to 2016, was in the list of narco politicians identified by Duterte in March 2019.
Sabal was found guilty for dishonesty and neglect of duty that he committed while serving as a public official. The decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court in June last year.
“Intelligence reports show that he was one among those involved in the Davao City bombing that happened last September 2016, which is an act of terrorism. Based on the information we gathered, he was among the planners. He was found to be one among the planners in the bombing. The BIFF has claimed responsibility for that that bombing,” said Eleazar.
He said Sabal is connected with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that has been blamed for the Davo City bombing that left 16 people dead and scores injured. He added that Sabal has been providing firearms and explosives to the BIFF.
“These are the result of the investigation as well as intelligence gathering by the PNP, in coordination with our counterparts from the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Eleazar said of Sabal’s connection with the Davao City bombing and ties with the BIFF.
Eleazar said Sabal was a former policeman who served with the PNP Special Action Force from 1998 to 2010. He said Sabal received specialized training on intelligence and finished urban counter-revolutionary warfare course, and explosives ordinance disposal and sniper’s course.
He said the PNP Internal Affairs Service will conduct an investigation of the incident.
“Since he died while under police custody, it is part of the protocol for the Internal Affairs Service to conduct a motu-proprio investigation. We will leave the investigation to our IAS and my instruction to IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo is to expedite the conduct of the investigation,” he said.
