ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 16 Dec) – Two wild boar hunters were slain, two are still missing and two others survived in a daring escape from the lair of alleged Dawlah Islamia-Lanao terrorists in the hinterlands somewhere in the boundary of Madalum, Lanao del Sur and Munai, Lanao del Norte.
The boundary between Madalum, Lanao del Sur and Munai, Lanao del Norte. Map courtesy of Google
Police reports obtained by MindaNews said the six were from the municipality of Bacolod in Lanao del Norte and have long been hunting wild boar in the mountains crisscrossing the boundaries of the two Lanaos.
A belated report obtained by MindaNews from the municipal police station of Madalum disclosed that past noon on December 11, they received a phone call from their counterpart in Munai informing them that an explosion apparently from an improvised explosive device occurred around 8 a.m. the day before in sitio Bangko, Barangay Tongan-tongan in Madalum.
Major Jolly Sabtal, Madalum police station commander, said in the report that they mobilized a team composed of the Madalum municipal government, the police, and some members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to investigate the explosion.
He said they had a hard time reaching the forested area, but eventually found the two cadavers.
Sabtal identified the fatalities as Francis Alcaba, 32, and Lito Angcap, 22. The two missing persons, meanwhile, were identified as Nito Bacayan, 22, and Leo Baloro, 24. They were all residents of Poblacion Bacolod, along with the two survivors who managed to escape. They were reportedly hogtied but the knots on the survivors’ hands and feet were apparently loose, enabling them to escape.
The survivors reportedly managed to escape towards Munai and chanced upon the police station, who then relayed the incident to Madalum police. Munai police brought the survivors to their homes in Bacolod.
Sabtal withheld the identities of the survivors while investigations are still being conducted.
Col. Rex Derilo, provincial police director Lanao del Sur, said they are now getting the witnesses’ accounts to identify the suspects for formal filing of cases.
Capt. Regie Bonn Pagaduan, Bacolod police station commander, said the cadavers were buried in the morning of Dec. 16. (Richel V. Umel / MindaNews)
