News Roundup 27 November 2022
Nov 27, 2022 • 4 min Read
2 suspects in Sultan Kudarat bus bombing killed in Cotabato City | PHILSTAR.COM – Two suspects in the bombing of a bus in Tacurong City earlier this month and who were reported arrested on Sunday morning have died from gunshot wounds after they shot it out with police, authorities said. The regional police offices in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and in Region 12 separately clarified at 4 p.m. Sunday that Haron Akmad Martin and wife Aiman Mandi Martin both perished in the shootout in a district of Cotabato City. The November 6 bombing of a Yellow Bus Line bus left a passenger dead and 11 others hurt. Police Brig Gen. John Guyguyon, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the operation that led to their arrest was a joint initiative of PRO-BAR and units of the Police Regional Office-12 under Police Brig Gen. Jamili Macaraeg. Guyguyon said Mandi and Martin both belong to the Dawlah Islamiya terror group and were nabbed after a Sultan Kudarat court issued warrants for their arrest. Police said the suspects shot at police and military personnel who were approaching their hideout in Purok Pinen in Rosary Heights. They were eventually cornered and arrested by securitry forces. Barangay officials in Rosary Heights 6 on Sunday afternoon told reporters the bombing suspects died from bullet wounds. Sources from intelligence units of PRO-BAR and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division told reporters Sunday besides their involvement in the November 6 bombing of a unit of a Yellow Bus Line in Tacurong City, Mandi and Martin are also suspects in the bombing four years ago of the South Seas Mall that left a minor dead and seven others injured. Senior Army and police intelligence officers said Mandi and Martin also have links to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
4 members of robbery gang operating in Calabarzon, NCR nabbed in Taguig | INQUIRER.NET – Four alleged members of a notorious robbery hold-up gang operating in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) and in Metro Manila, were arrested in Taguig City on Saturday, November 26, police said Sunday, November 27. The Police Regional Office 4A, in a report, identified the arrested suspects as Larry Gilbero Jr., 20; Jessierell Eusebio, 22; John Clister Balderama; 19, and Diosdado Tamondong, Jr., 19. The suspects were nabbed by combined police operatives in a follow-up operation in Barangay (village) Calzada on Saturday morning. The police seized from the suspects two .38 caliber revolvers, a caliber .22 pistol, assorted ammunition, one hand grenade, several stolen mobile phones, and a motorcycle. The report said the police located the suspects with the global positioning system tracker installed in one of the stolen mobile phones. Citing confessions from the suspects, the police said the group was behind the recent robberies of at least 11 branches of a convenience store in Metro Manila and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon). Their latest victim was the branch in Imus City on Friday, November 25. The police are conducting follow-up operations to arrest the other members of the gang.
Albay governor hoping for SC TRO on Comelec disqualification ruling | INQUIRER.NET – Albay Governor Noel Rosal said, in a text message to Inquirer Sunday, November 27, that he remains hopeful the Supreme Court will issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) in his favor against the finality of the disqualification ruling meted against him by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Rosal, who is facing accusations of violating the Omnibus Election Code’s mandate against vote-buying before the recent May polls, was dealt another blow when Comelec on Friday, November 26, issued the “certificate of finality” declaring the en banc’s November 18 resolution “final and executory.” “Still hoping for the TRO,” Rosal simply said in his text message, responding to requests for his comment. He also did not elaborate the status of the request for TRO which he filed on November 21. According to Comelec’s “certificate of finality,” “No restraining order has been issued by the Supreme Court within five (5) days from receipt of the parties of the Resolution that would preclude 18 November 2022 Resolution of this Commission (En Banc) from being final and executory.” As of Sunday, Rosal is not yet stepping down from office as a writ of execution is yet to be issued by officials from the Department of the Interior and Local Government connected to the Comelec decision. Vice Governor Grex Lagman is set to become governor of Albay should Rosal be finally told to leave office based on the rule of succession. Lagman also refused to make any statement regarding the possible scenario. On Friday, Civil Disturbance Management personnel of Albay police were deployed to the Albay capitol after rumors began circulating that a rally will be staged against Rosal’s administration. The rumors turned out to be untrue.
