Arrested ex-Maguindanao mayor killed

A FORMER Maguindanao politician who was arrested by the police for various criminal charges had been killed Thursday after grabbing the weapon of his escort while on their way to the national police headquarters in Quezon City.

Police photos show General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar inspecting weapons seized from Montasser Sabal.  

Montasser Sabal, former mayor of Talitay town, was captured on Wednesday night by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) at a pier in Batangas City. The CIDG team was tipped off by an informant on Sabal’s arrival from Mindanao and waited for him until his boat arrived.

Sabal was arrested inside his car along with his driver Muhaliden Kukaram, 36; and two house helpers Norayda Nandang, 43; and Aika de Asis, 34. Two other drivers Zuharto Monico, 28; and Wilson Santos, 41, who were waiting for Sabal in another pickup truck parked at the pier were also arrested together with Ailyn Compania, 45, also a house helper.

CIDG Director Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro said Sabal was being transferred to the office of the CIDG in Camp Crame when he grabbed the weapon of one of his police escorts inside the vehicle and shot one of them. The other officers eventually shot Sabal.

Ferro also reported the incident to National Police Chief General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, who said the CIDG seized a cache of assorted weapons and a grenade, including over P48,000 in cash, five cell phones and two packets of suspected crystal meth worth over P200,000 from Sabal’s car.

The pickup truck also yielded high-powered weapons, including automatic rifles, a .50-caliber machine gun, ammunition, a pistol and a rifle grenade, and more crystal meth weighing nearly 360 grams worth about P2.5 million. Police also seized P582,000 in cash from the vehicle.

A dossier on Sabal said the former mayor also was a member of the elite Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police from 1998 to 2008 before becoming a politician in 2010. He also served as Talitay town vice mayor from 2013 to 2016 before going underground.

Sabal was also involved in drug trafficking and gunrunning, and had been tagged by the police as among the suppliers of illegal weapons and explosives to the pro-ISIS group called Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Mindanao.

“Sabal was a former member of PNP-SAF from 1998 to 2008 and had specialized trainings on Intelligence, Urban Counter Revolutionary Warfare Course, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Sniper’s Course,” Eleazar said.

During his incumbency, Sabal was charged by the Office of the Ombudsman and eventually suspended for failure to disclose his properties and business interests in his SALN from 2011 to 2015.

SALN or Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth is an annual document that all government workers, whether regular or temporary, must complete and submit attesting under oath to their total assets and liabilities, including businesses and financial interests, that make up their net worth.

Sabal was also linked to the deadly Davao City bombing in September 2016 carried out by the BIFF.

Eleazar lauded the CIDG and other police units and law enforcement agencies involved in the operation that led to Sabal’s downfall, but since Sabal died while under police custody, he ordered an investigation into the incident.

“The neutralization of Sabal is a big blow to the chain of supply of firearms and explosive materials to the BIFF which is responsible in various attacks and bombings in Maguindanao and nearby areas.”

“Since siya ay namatay 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,” Eleazar said. (Mindanao Examiner)

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