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By Isagani P. Palma Correspondent
GENERAL SANTOS CITY: Government
authorities have arrested four suspected terrorist bombers who are
said to be members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF)
special operations group (SOG) tagged responsible for a series of
bombing incidents here and nearby South Cotabato province.
Sr. Supt. Robert Po, police city
director, identified the suspects as Jeffrey Saldivia alias Omar, a
resident of Barangay Katangawan; his common law wife Noemita Guimalo;
Mohamad Daniel Linog of Barangay Tinagacan and 23-year old Gerald
Mamalupa Mupi of Barangay Tambler, all of this city.
“The suspects were apprehended
by combined elements of the local police, Regional Intelligence and
Investigation Division and Joint Task Force Gensan operatives led by
Army Capt. Emmanuel Cruzada. The inspection and arrest was
implemented by virtue of a search warrant issued by RTC Judge Oscar
P. Noel,” Po said in a press conference held at Camp Fermin Lira
on Sunday.
Po said authorities seized a .45
caliber pistol and fragmentation grenade inside Saldivia’s
residence during the operation. “The place, where Linog and Mupi
were also found, was being used as the group’s safe house,” the
police officer said.
The group was also tagged as
being responsible for the January 2008 bombing of Philbest Canning
Corporation in Barangay Tambler that claimed four innocent lives and
left 27 others wounded.
Po said Guimalo, Saldevia’s
live in partner was also arrested for possessing various magazines
and ammunitions inside a plastic bar when she was frisked by police
agents.
Chief Supt. Felizardo Serapio,
police director for Central Mindanao, said this morning that police
investigators are already looking into various vital information and
several witnesses that would possibly identify and link the suspects
to other heinous crimes in the city.
Serapio said the group was
likewise linked to a series of Yellow Bus Bombings in South Cotabato.
“This includes the August 3
Yellow Bus twin bombings that killed a church minister and wounded
14 others,” Serapio said.
The suspects will be charged for
qualified illegal possession of firearms as defined and penalized
under Section 1, Par. 2 of PD No. 1866.
“If proven guilty beyond
reasonable doubt, then the suspects shall suffer the proscribe
imposition of reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment.”
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