CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 2, 2011) – Police arrested four suspected kidnappers, including an army officer, during a pursuit operation early Friday in Cagayan de Oro City in the southern Philippines.
The four suspects – Major Micunog Tangote, Corporal Harvey Bureta, Yaya Tomawis and Grisha Mohammad – were being investigated, said Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz, the national police spokesman.
Police said the four were implicated in the kidnapping Tuesday of a 40-year old Muslim trader, Ibrahim Racman, in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province.
Racman was freed on Friday after his family allegedly paid P5 million to the suspects in Cagayan de Oro.
Tangote and Bureta are both members of Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City.
Major General Victor Felix, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, also ordered a separate investigation into the involvement of the soldiers in the kidnapping, said Major Eugenio Osias, an army spokesman.
“General Victor Felix has ordered a separate investigation into this report. We will also give our full cooperation to the police in the course of their investigation. We will not meddle in the police investigation. It will be up to the police to determine the culpability of the soldiers and for the court to decide on their case,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Osias said Tangote is the commanding officer of the army’s military police unit and acting officer-in-charge of an army band. (Mindanao Examiner)
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