DAVAO CITY — Four armed siblings and two policemen relatives allegedly killed Police Captain Arnold Ronald Moralde on Thursday morning in Barangay Dos, Parang town in Maguindanao del Norte.
“The place where Moralde fell was the property of his attackers, they live there so they were able to react in seconds,” Parang Municipal Police Chief Colonel Christopher Cabugwang told Newsline.
Moralde, the commander of the Regional Mobile Force of the Philippine National Police in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, was a good and proficient police official, Cabugwang emphasized.
Moralde sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body.
“Of the six suspects, four are brothers (one died) while the two police personnel who surrendered are relatives by consanguinity. He had no idea on the place na pinuntahan nya,” the police chief added.
The Last Call and Miscalculation
While inside Parang Public Market, Moralde noticed that a person who was later identified as Mohiden Untal was carrying a revolver which prompted him to inform about the incident.
Minutes before his death, Moralde called Cabugwang to ask for clearance to approach the suspect and was told to wait for the alert team from the fixed PNP visibility post near the barangay hall, which is just a few meters away to accompany him, “To at least defuse the tension if ever, pero hindi na sya nakinig sa akin nag proceed sya at ilang seconds lang, ang bilis nang pangyayari, nagsabi ang team sa akin na patay na si Captain Moralde,” the police chief added.
“We conducted a backtracking of the case and we got a copy of the CCTV, and the video will speak for itself,” Cabugwang said.
The video which is now circulating showed that the five armed men fired their guns even if Moralde was already lying on the pavement of the road near a van.
“It was a miscalculation on the part of Captain,” Cabugwang emphasized “hindi nya na-antipate ang mangyari ganun, kasi naka-focus sya kay alyas Pogi (Untal), unknowingly nandoon ang Kapatid na si Mokari at dalawa pang kapatid at ang dalawang polis na relative nila by consanguinity,” since he was not aware that the house he entered was the residence of the suspects which is just a stone’s throw away from the public market.
The surrender
Two of the five living suspects are active members of the Philippine National Police, one is assigned to Matanog Police while the other is assigned to Rajah Buayan, the two policemen surrendered on Thursday night during the hot pursuit operations and are now under custody of the PNP. While the three other civilian suspects, the brothers of Untal remain at large, Cabugwang revealed.
Cases filed
On Friday afternoon, May 3, Cabugwang said they filed murder charges against the five suspects “The administrative case will be filed by the Regional Internal Affairs Service (RIAS) as we take care of the criminal case and after the filing, it is up for the prosecution office to weigh on the charges.”
“This is very unfortunate because the suspects in the killing of Captain Roland Moralde are also his comrades in the unit,” Cabugwang confirmed.
PNP Chief Marbil condemned the death of Moralde as he asked the PNP to get to the bottom of the case. Marbil and the entire PRO-BAR condoled with the family of Moralde as they mourned the death of a good officer.
“Ang bait nya at napaka output-driven, Cabugwang stressed.
