COTABATO CITY — The police now have the names of the gunmen behind the fatal ambush of a Moro farmer, his preschool son, and nephew in Carmen town in Cotabato on Saturday morning.
The victims, Norhan Alim Makulintang, his five-year-old son Norolan Balaitom Makulintang and nephew, Grade 3 pupil Umbra Guiamil Makulintang, were riding a motorcycle together when they were shot with pistols and M16 assault rifles by gunmen positioned along a stretch of a highway in Barangay General Luna in Carmen.
Mr. Makulintang and his son died at the scene while his nephew passed away in a hospital a few hours later.
The slain 29-year-old Mr. Makulintang, a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was first identified by his relatives as Norman Makasasa, which is his alias in the MILF.
Col. Gilbert B. Tuzon, Cotabato provincial police director, told reporters on Sunday that local officials and villagers in Barangay General Luna, an agricultural enclave in Carmen, have positively identified the gunmen who killed Makulintang and the two children.
Mr. Tuzon said local officials have assured to help them build airtight criminal cases against the culprits, whose names he declined to reveal pending the full documentation of the incident, a requisite in prosecuting them for their offense. — John Felix M. Unson
