The mayor of Cotabato City has offered a P500,000 bounty for the gunmen behind the fatal ambush of a Sangguniang Kabataan chairman and his brother in a busy commercial hub on Saturday, October 4.
Mayor Bruce Matabalao, chairman of the Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, confirmed on Sunday, October 5, that he has allocated a P500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the gunmen behind the ambush that killed Mohaz Salvador Matanog, SK chairman of Barangay Poblacion 5, and his brother Muamar.
Matanog, an engineering student at Cotabato City State University, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds. His brother, who was severely wounded, died hours later at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in the uptown area of Cotabato City.
The Matanog siblings were in a red Toyota Raize on their way somewhere when gunmen attacked them at the intersection of Jose Lim Sr. Street and Sinsuat Avenue, near Cotabato City Police Precinct 1.
Their assailants had also shot and wounded an on-duty policeman who responded to the incident, Patrolman Norsaiden Laguiali, before they escaped using getaway motorcycles.
Matabalao and Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, separately condemned the incident, which triggered panic as gunshots echoed through the area where the Matanogs were ambushed, surrounded by commercial establishments and banks.
De Guzman told reporters that Col. Jibin Bongcayao, director of the Cotabato City Police Office, is personally overseeing the investigation into the atrocity, with support from Matabalao’s office and local barangay leaders.