COTABATO CITY — The city police here arrested on Tuesday afternoon ten individuals including military personnel in relation to the gunfight which took within the vicinity of the house of former Rep. Ronnie Sinsuat in Rosales St, Rosary Heights.
City Police Director Police Colonel Querubin Manalang said the suspects will be charged for the murder of Staff Sgt. Zahraman Mustapha Diocolano and illegal possession of firearms.
Manalang said those arrested underwent a paraffin test to determine their involvement in the January 2 shootout which Diocolnao a military escort.
The incident happened outside the house while the Sinsuat clan gathered to settle their differences.
Among those arrested is a soldier serving as bodyguard to one of the Sinsuat’s.
The four suspects were arrested right after the incident while inside the white SUV where the gun burst emanated other wer arrested in a follow up operations.
Manalang said the investigators recovered 11 assorted firearms which included five long and six pistols.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, the commander of the Police Regional Officer in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said they searched the compound of the Sinsuat’s including the house of the late Datu Jamael Sinsuat, who served as the President of the Liga ng mga Barangay in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte.
Auhorities found empty shells of M14 and a a 9mm pistol in an abandoned house.
Manalang said “We are looking into the possbility that a sniper killed the police escort Mayor Lester Sinsuat of Datu Odin Sinsuat.
Meanwhile, the 6th kampilan division of the Philippine Army said they will comply with the legal procedure as one of their soldier weas arrested among the ten suspects. The soldier is a security detail for Datu Kim Sinsuat.
The dialogue is meant to resolve the deep-seated misunderstandings among them.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, on Wednesday said that their main effort in the meantime is to diffuse tension among members of the Sinsuat clan while investigators are still trying to determine the real circumstances that led to the incident and resulted in the death of Staff Sgt. Diocolano.
Diocolano, who belonged to the 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Company of the Maguindanao del Norte Provincial Police Office, was an escort of Mayor Lester Sinsuat of the nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat municipality, the political bailiwick of their clan.
Responding policemen arrested Army Private First Class John Carlo Bravo Nocum of the 2nd Mechanized Battalion, Jholex Padsod Buludan, Ali Ibrahim Mongkar and Roufden Angkad Ameril, who were allegedly involved in the gunfight that led to Diocolano’s death.
