GENERAL SANTOS CITY (October 4) – A patient was killed while an ambulance driver was wounded in a daring attack by unidentified armed men near the South Cotabato provincial hospital in Koronadal City on Tuesday night.
Supt. Benjiel Kirby Bajo, Koronadal City police chief, said that patient Arlan Macabangin Mangudalat, 45, was gunned down while being brought to the provincial hospital onboard an ambulance at around 9:10 p.m.
Bajo said the ambulance, which came from the Polomolok municipal hospital, was traversing an access road in Block 1, Maranon Village in Barangay Zone III when its path was suddenly blocked by a white Toyota van.
Two men, one of them carrying a long firearm, emerged from the van and asked for the name of the patient, he said. Bajo said that after confirming that it was Mangudalat, the suspects opened the ambulance and shot the latter several times.
Investigators recovered at the scene at least eight fired cartridges of an M16 Armalite rifle.
He said a relative accompanying the patient, whose identity was withheld for security reasons, was unharmed but ambulance driver Dexter Buaya Jacodan, 40, was hit on his back.
After the suspects left, Bajo said Jacodan managed to drive the ambulance to the provincial hospital, which was just about 80 meters away.
Mangudalat succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds and was declared dead on arrival by attending doctors.
Jacodan sustained a “non-critical” wound and is recuperating at the provincial hospital.
Citing initial reports from Polomolok town, Bajo said Mangudalat was brought to the municipal hospital on Sept. 22 due to gunshot wounds. He was referred on Tuesday night to the provincial hospital for further treatment.
“We’re currently coordinating with our counterparts in Polomolok regarding the case but our investigators are already looking at some angles,” he said.-PNA
