Suspects in vice mayor's slay charged

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Police in North Cotabato province filed Thursday murder complaints against two of the alleged killers of Kabacan Vice Mayor Policronio Dulay.

Senior Inspector Rodel Calo, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Team (CIDT)-North Cotabato, identified the suspects as Jomar Pulindao Utala, 26, and Batong Magalib, both residents of Barangay Madidis in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao.

Of the two, only Utala was arrested and was placed under the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Kidapawan City.

Calo said Utala was arrested last week at a checkpoint in Kabacan town for carrying unlicensed ammunition from a .45 caliber pistol. He was immediately locked at the Kabacan jail.

Authorities, however, found out Utala has fit to the description given previously by a lone witness to the Dulay's killing.

Without delay, Calo said they asked the witness to confirm if it was Utala that shot Dulay on January 11.

The witness, a worker in one of the establishments in Kabacan town, claimed he was just few feet away from where Dulay was killed.

Calo said the other suspect was also identified by the witness when he was shown photos of few most wanted persons who could possibly execute the killing. Magalib, allegedly the driver of the getaway vehicle, is still the subject of a massive manhunt.

After gathering the needed information, the CIDG-led Task Force Dulay, filed the necessary charges against the two.

Calo said much has yet to be done to identify the mastermind in the killing.

On January 11, Dulay was set to board his motorcycle parked outside a department store in Poblacion, Kabacan, when the suspect shot him thrice on his chest and stomach.