Afdal sees Cerilles’s hand in police pullout; says she ditched him
JONG CADION
Chief of reporters
LABANGAN, ZAMBOSUR—Mayor Abubakar Afdal, his talking mode blowing its fuse last week, has accused his political allies, the Cerillese couple, of “walking out” and “forsaking him” during the time when he needs them most.
Afdal, in an interview with Pagadian reporters, said that he was disheartened for being left out by both the governor and her husband, Rep. Antonio Cerilles, in his struggle for justice to the victims of the so-called Tukuran misencounter.
Naturally, Afdal narrated, his heart feels for the dead and wounded victims of the misencounter “because they were from Labangan and some of them are my relatives, my police and military escorts.”
“If somebody sees this act as a false move, I have no choice. I am just helping the families of the victims in seeking justice. I am only doing my duties and responsibilities as a father of my municipality,” he added.
To recall, a shooting incident between the military escorts of Vice Mayor Wilson Nandang and members of the 905th PNP Provincial Mobile Group ensued after a verbal confrontation turned into a violent reaction during a routinary police check in Brgy. Sto. Niño, Tukuran.
The August 22 shooting left Cpl. Paulino Tapang, PO1 Michael Jover, Thong Sally Abdullah and civilians Halil Acang and Tong Adam dead. They were all identified as bodyguards and escorts of Nandang.
Another escort, identified as Pfc Jesus Gaudencio Burlat died a few days later at the hospital.
Police said the victims were on board two vehicles enroute for Labangan from Maranding, Lanao del Norte when flagged down by the PNP-PMG.
Statements taken from police sources said a shootout happened between the two groups after Nandang’s convoy refused to stop along a checkpoint. But Afdal maintains what happened was a rubout.
According to the mayor, he is seeking an independent panel of investigators to probe what happened that Friday morning, alleging the incident to be a police rubout.
“Sayop ang giingon nila nga mis-encounter kay kung misencounter pa naa unta’y maigo sa ila,” he said then.
A team from NBI-Special Cases Division has been sent by DOJ Sec. Raul Gonzalez to investigate the incident as the Provincial Board conducted its own fact-finding team headed by board member Ernesto Mondarte.
Mondarte, in an interview with MINDANAO MONITOR last Sunday, disclosed part of their fact-finding report, saying they were able to gather evidence that specify there was no ambush made by the PNP personnel.
Part of the fact-finding report stated that the committee, headed by Mondarte, “gave more credence to the statements of the eyewitness and nearby residents who narrated the incident during ocular inspection and personal interviews rather than the submitted affidavits and sworn statements of the survivors or PNP personnel which might be self-serving in themselves as they are the very same persons involved.”
Mondarte’s team also concluded, among others, that “the presence of the illegally possessed firearms must be the reason why the two vehicles did not stop” and “given a tension so high and the number of heavily armed men from both sides, even a single shot of a firearm (intentional or not) could spark a shooting incident.”
Back to Afdal, he said that he was in Manila during the Tukuran incident and called on the governor’s son, Mayor Ace Cerilles to relay his request for assistance on the matter and “to help facilitate investigation about the incident.”
The mayor added that the families of the victims are agreeable to a settlement and open for any negotiation through the payment of a blood money following the Muslim culture.
Afdal explained he was confident the governor would lend a hand in this request since they were partymates.
“To my surprise, somebody from the Department of Justice Manila told me that my Boss, Congressman Tony Cerilles together with some provincial officials went to the DOJ to follow-up the developments of the incident but wanted it in favor the policemen involved,” Afdal alleged, adding he felt dreadful and embarrassed after hearing the news.
Afdal then scored the governor for pulling the Provincial Regional Mobile Group (PRMG) from his town and replaced this with the 905th Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) manning a checkpoint along the intersection of national highway going to his residence in Dalapang.
This declaration made by the mayor made Cerilles mad, which caused the governor to publicize her plan to wage war against drug dealing and gunrunning, even naming both Afdal and Nandang in the course of her message.
Cerilles added that she felt uncomfortable everytime she presides the RPOC meeting because she would encounter reports of high incidence of drug-related cases in Zambosur as compared to Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay.
In retort to Cerilles’s accusations, Afdal said that the issue labeling them as druglords was already there before they entered politics in 2004 and it is just hearsay.
“If we are involved in illegal drugs and gunrunning, why would Governor Cerilles invite us to join politics under her political party?” Afdal asked.
The mayor recalled that during their campaign and rallies, it was even the governor, herself, who would tell the public that such issues “were only political issues and intrigues.”
“The governor would even challenge our political opponents to show their evidences regarding the issue and if proven, she herself will help and led the arrest against us,” Afdal said.
Cerilles, in a conversation with this paper, Sunday, replied: “They are now afraid of their shadows.”
“Kung ako’y alirongan og polis, mag-checkpoint duol sa akong balay, sus malipay nuon ko kay secure ang akong kinabuhi. Sila, mahadlok, kay ngano man?” she asked.
JONG CADION
Chief of reporters
LABANGAN, ZAMBOSUR—Mayor Abubakar Afdal, his talking mode blowing its fuse last week, has accused his political allies, the Cerillese couple, of “walking out” and “forsaking him” during the time when he needs them most.
Afdal, in an interview with Pagadian reporters, said that he was disheartened for being left out by both the governor and her husband, Rep. Antonio Cerilles, in his struggle for justice to the victims of the so-called Tukuran misencounter.
Naturally, Afdal narrated, his heart feels for the dead and wounded victims of the misencounter “because they were from Labangan and some of them are my relatives, my police and military escorts.”
“If somebody sees this act as a false move, I have no choice. I am just helping the families of the victims in seeking justice. I am only doing my duties and responsibilities as a father of my municipality,” he added.
To recall, a shooting incident between the military escorts of Vice Mayor Wilson Nandang and members of the 905th PNP Provincial Mobile Group ensued after a verbal confrontation turned into a violent reaction during a routinary police check in Brgy. Sto. Niño, Tukuran.
The August 22 shooting left Cpl. Paulino Tapang, PO1 Michael Jover, Thong Sally Abdullah and civilians Halil Acang and Tong Adam dead. They were all identified as bodyguards and escorts of Nandang.
Another escort, identified as Pfc Jesus Gaudencio Burlat died a few days later at the hospital.
Police said the victims were on board two vehicles enroute for Labangan from Maranding, Lanao del Norte when flagged down by the PNP-PMG.
Statements taken from police sources said a shootout happened between the two groups after Nandang’s convoy refused to stop along a checkpoint. But Afdal maintains what happened was a rubout.
According to the mayor, he is seeking an independent panel of investigators to probe what happened that Friday morning, alleging the incident to be a police rubout.
“Sayop ang giingon nila nga mis-encounter kay kung misencounter pa naa unta’y maigo sa ila,” he said then.
A team from NBI-Special Cases Division has been sent by DOJ Sec. Raul Gonzalez to investigate the incident as the Provincial Board conducted its own fact-finding team headed by board member Ernesto Mondarte.
Mondarte, in an interview with MINDANAO MONITOR last Sunday, disclosed part of their fact-finding report, saying they were able to gather evidence that specify there was no ambush made by the PNP personnel.
Part of the fact-finding report stated that the committee, headed by Mondarte, “gave more credence to the statements of the eyewitness and nearby residents who narrated the incident during ocular inspection and personal interviews rather than the submitted affidavits and sworn statements of the survivors or PNP personnel which might be self-serving in themselves as they are the very same persons involved.”
Mondarte’s team also concluded, among others, that “the presence of the illegally possessed firearms must be the reason why the two vehicles did not stop” and “given a tension so high and the number of heavily armed men from both sides, even a single shot of a firearm (intentional or not) could spark a shooting incident.”
Back to Afdal, he said that he was in Manila during the Tukuran incident and called on the governor’s son, Mayor Ace Cerilles to relay his request for assistance on the matter and “to help facilitate investigation about the incident.”
The mayor added that the families of the victims are agreeable to a settlement and open for any negotiation through the payment of a blood money following the Muslim culture.
Afdal explained he was confident the governor would lend a hand in this request since they were partymates.
“To my surprise, somebody from the Department of Justice Manila told me that my Boss, Congressman Tony Cerilles together with some provincial officials went to the DOJ to follow-up the developments of the incident but wanted it in favor the policemen involved,” Afdal alleged, adding he felt dreadful and embarrassed after hearing the news.
Afdal then scored the governor for pulling the Provincial Regional Mobile Group (PRMG) from his town and replaced this with the 905th Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) manning a checkpoint along the intersection of national highway going to his residence in Dalapang.
This declaration made by the mayor made Cerilles mad, which caused the governor to publicize her plan to wage war against drug dealing and gunrunning, even naming both Afdal and Nandang in the course of her message.
Cerilles added that she felt uncomfortable everytime she presides the RPOC meeting because she would encounter reports of high incidence of drug-related cases in Zambosur as compared to Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay.
In retort to Cerilles’s accusations, Afdal said that the issue labeling them as druglords was already there before they entered politics in 2004 and it is just hearsay.
“If we are involved in illegal drugs and gunrunning, why would Governor Cerilles invite us to join politics under her political party?” Afdal asked.
The mayor recalled that during their campaign and rallies, it was even the governor, herself, who would tell the public that such issues “were only political issues and intrigues.”
“The governor would even challenge our political opponents to show their evidences regarding the issue and if proven, she herself will help and led the arrest against us,” Afdal said.
Cerilles, in a conversation with this paper, Sunday, replied: “They are now afraid of their shadows.”
“Kung ako’y alirongan og polis, mag-checkpoint duol sa akong balay, sus malipay nuon ko kay secure ang akong kinabuhi. Sila, mahadlok, kay ngano man?” she asked.