In observance of the Holy Week, the Philippine News Agency’s online news service will be off on March 29, Good Friday, and March 30, Black Saturday. Normal operations will resume on March 31, Easter Sunday.

— The Editors

3 of 5 murderers of NoCot police town chief known

By Noel Punzalan

August 28, 2020, 8:20 pm

<p>Google map of Carmen town, North Cotabato.</p>

Google map of Carmen town, North Cotabato.

COTABATO CITY--Police in North Cotabato have already identified three of the five gunmen who shot dead a police town chief during a law enforcement operation in Carmen town on Tuesday.

“We have a clear identification of the three gunmen who shot dead an Indian national and eventually Maj. Joan Resurreccion during pursuit operations,” Colonel Henry Villar, North Cotabato police director, said in a radio interview on Friday.

Villar said the Carmen town police, backed by the provincial police intelligence units and Army intelligence operatives, have been in the process of “elimination and addition” of suspects based on the witnesses’ accounts.

“We will have arrests soon; we have strong evidence,” Villar said, without elaborating on the identities of the suspects who remain at large.

He said the group is not just an ordinary hold-up gang but a syndicate operating in North Cotabato and nearby areas preying on foreign nationals engaged in money lending business.

On Tuesday, the same suspects robbed and eventually killed Indian money lender Loveprecth Singh Brar, 25, in Barangay Poblacion of the town.

Resurreccion, the Carmen police chief, was leading the pursuit against the group of robbers when the suspects’ “lookouts” started shooting at the pursuing police officers.

Resurreccion, who was inside a police car, was fatally hit twice by sniper fire while chasing the suspects who were onboard motorbikes.

Currently, the Philippine flag is being flown at half-mast in front of the Carmen municipal hall and its local police station to mourn the death of the  police official.

Resurreccion belongs to the Philippine National Police Academy’s “Kaisang-Bisig” Class of 2009. He is survived by his wife, Senior Fire Officer Jenna Resurreccion, fire marshal of Bureau of Fire Protection in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, and two children.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Archie Gamboa earlier said Resurreccion's immediate family will receive PHP250,000 from the President’s Social Fund; between PHP141,000 to PHP181,000 as Special Financial Assistance (SFA) from the PNP; burial benefits worth PHP50,000, and a PHP200,000-gratuity from the National Police Commission (Napolcom).

“While we mourn and our morale was affected a bit with Major Resurreccion’s fate, we will continue to perform our duties to protect and serve the people at the same time intensify our manhunt operation against the gunmen,” Villar said. (PNA)

Comments