Ex-Maguindanao mayor on drug watch list killed after arrest in Batangas port

Operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on Thursday morning, June 17, shot dead a former mayor of Talitay town in Maguindanao after he allegedly grabbed the gun of a police escort while he was being transported to Camp Crame in Quezon City.

The incident happened hours after the arrest of former Talitay mayor Montasser Sabal at the Port of Batangas, according to a CIDG report to Philippine National Police chief General Guillermo Eleazar.

Sabal faced drug charges and was alleged to be among the suppliers of firearms and explosive materials to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

CIDG chief Major General Albert Ignatius Ferro said in his report to Eleazar that Sabal was shot after he grabbed the service firearm of his police escort who sat beside him in a vehicle headed to the National Capital Region Field Unit of the CIDG in Camp Crame around 5:20 am on Thursday.

Sabal was declared dead at the San Juan Medical Center. 

“The suspect grabbed his police escort’s firearm while onboard the vehicle which resulted in a scuffle wherein he was able to shoot the police officer beside him. Posing danger, the accompanying police officers prompted to use reasonable force that resulted in wounding the arrested person through the use of his firearm,” Ferro said in his report.

Eleazar said Sabal was arrested at 7 pm on Wednesday at the Batangas Port in Batangas City, after CIDG operatives learned of his arrival from Mindanao. 

CIDG operatives – who were armed with arrest warrants for illegal possession of firearms with no bail recommended, and drug charges with P200,000 bail – arrested Sabal onboard the Reyna De Luna 4, a roll-on roll-off (RO-RO) vessel.

Police said the items seized inside his vehicle, which was on the RO-RO, included a number of weapons, pieces of live ammunition, a fragmentation grenade, P48,840, five cellphones, assorted documents and IDs, and two sachets of shabu worth approximately P200,000.

Also arrested were Norayda Nandang, 43, house helper; Muhaliden Mukaram, 36, driver; and Aika de Asis, 34, house helper.

Ferro said they pursued a second vehicle, which was at the parking lot of the Batangas City port and was believed to be owned by Sabal.

This resulted in the arrest of Ailyn Compania, 45, house helper; Zuharto Monico, 28, driver; and, Wilson Santos, 41, driver. 

Confiscated from the second vehicle were more weapons and ammunition, accessories for a mortar, two sachets of shabu valued at P2.5 million, and P582,000.

Eleazar said Sabal was a former policeman assigned to the Special Action Force from 1998 to 2008 and served as Talitay mayor from 2010 to 2013, and vice mayor of the same town from 2013 to 2016.

Eleazar said Sabal was a former member of the PNP Special Action Force from 1998 to 2008 and had specialized training on intelligence, urban counter-revolutionary warfare, explosive ordnance disposal, and marksmanship through a sniper’s course.

Sabal was also listed under the National Watchlist on Illegal Drugs (NWID).

Intelligence reports revealed that Sabal was among those involved in the September 2016 Davao City bombing. The reports further said that he was a full time supporter and served as a supplier of armaments and explosives to the BIFF.

“Since siya ay namatay (Since he died) while under police custody, it is part of the protocol for the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) to conduct a motu-propio investigation. We will leave the investigation to our IAS and my instruction to IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo is to expedite the conduct of the investigation,” said Eleazar.

In February 2020, Sabal’s brother, Abdul Wahab Sabal, who was then serving as Talitay mayor, was killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in front of the Mannra Hotel in Malate. He had been earlier identified as among those in President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of narco-politicians, together with his brother. – Rappler.com