BOUNTY UP. Mayor Sumulong Sultan (sitting extreme right) of Pikit, North Cotabato, presides over Friday's (Oct. 11) municipal peace and order council meeting where members agreed to raise a PHP200,000 reward for information leading to arrest of suspects behind the recent murder of a Pikit village councilman and two others. The town has been rocked by a series of killings lately. (Photo courtesy of Pikit Mayor’s Office)
KIDAPAWAN CITY – The local government of Pikit, North Cotabato, has offered a PHP200,000 bounty for anyone who can provide information that would help in the identification and arrest of the suspects in the murder of a village councilman and two others last week.
“Hopefully, it will fast-track the investigation and bring justice to barangay councilman Andrew C. Lumibao and two others,” Mayor Sumulong Sultan of Pikit said after convening the municipal peace and order council (MPOC) on Friday.
Lumibao, former chair of Barangay Takepan and incumbent council member of the same village, was in a drinking session at a local variety store with two others, village watchmen Michael A. Arroyo and Robert L. Ayona, when two men on board a motorbike arrived and opened fire on them on Sept. 30.
Sultan said the motive of the attack on Lumibao and his companions remained unknown as of postingbut the MPOC chair hopes the bounty will help convince anyone who has vital information to resolve the case.
Pikit, one of the oldest towns in North Cotabato and about 40 kilometers west of this city has been rocked by a series of killings, compelling the town MPOC to deploy more police and force multipliers on major town streets.
More police checkpoints were also established around town with the soldiers securing the periphery. (PNA)
