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Monday, March 26, 2007
Missing law student found dead in Lanao town
By Richel V. Umel
Lanao correspondent
ILIGAN CITY -- A 26-year-old graduating law student of Xavier University who was reported missing since March 22 was found dead Saturday in a remote area in Taraka, Lanao del Sur.
Tamtam Edpan, a resident of Jasaan, Misamis Oriental, was found with gunshot wounds in the head and chest.
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National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Northern Mindanao executive officer Alex Cabornay said they e received reports that strongly pointed to a group of Maranaos who are operating as a carnap and kidnap gang in the region as the suspected perpetrators.
"We are moving heaven and earth to bring these perpetrators to justice," he told Sun.Star in the vernacular.
NBI Director Virgilio Mendez dispatched Cabornay and a team of his agents to accompany Tamtam's mother, Marlyn Edpan, to Marawi City, Lanao del Sur Saturday after they received reports that a dead body matching the missing person's description was found in Taraka.
Marlyn recalled that around 4:00 p.m. Thursday, Tamtam asked for money saying he will be going to Valencia City, Bukidnon.
She said she then sent P1,000 through the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) for Tamtam, but from then on Tamtam's cellular phone could no longer be contacted.
"I later found out that the money I sent through ATM was not withdrawn," she said in the dialect, adding that she was very worried at that time because she could not contact him.
The following day, Marlyn said her son's girlfriend and classmate Charissa Akut suddenly received text messages Friday from what they suspected were Tamtam's abductors.
"They were asking for money but they did not elaborate the specific amount," Edpan said.
Marlyn and Charissa asked help from Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente
Emano and Mendez to look for Tamtam.
Emano, who has been instrumental in bringing home several other abduction victims or in recovering stolen vehicles in the past, issued a public call over radio staton dxIF Saturday morning.
He pleaded with whoever was holding Tamtam to bring him safely back to his family.
"They can keep the vehicle if they want just as long as they return Tamtam back," he said.
Emano said he called up the Office of Muslim Affairs Regional Director
Ogie Gandamra to ask the latter's help in looking for Tamtam.
When the cellular phone number used by the abductors to ask for money was called up, a voice with a Maranao-sounding accent answered the phone, the family said.
Gandamra, for his part, immediately called up his relatives and even rushed to Marawi City to personally look for the missing law student.
But in Marawi City, Taraka police officers recovered Tamtam's lifeless body that sustained fatal gunshot wounds. Tamtam's mother broke into tears as she identified her son.
Marlyn and the agents brought Tamtam's body to Capin funeral parlor in Camague highway, Iligan City. They later brought his body back home.
There was no report as to the whereabouts of Tamtam's Tunda green Mitsubishi Adventure.
As of Sunday, sources said Charissa, who attended her graduation rites in XU-Law, could not still accept the fate of her boyfriend of over four years.
Marlyn is now urging the military and police to bring justice to her son and prosecute the perpetrators.
XU-Law students strongly condemned the "senseless killing" of Tamtam and mourn the passing of a "classmate, friend and brother."
Both Emano and Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno voiced their lament over the student's death. It was reported that Tamtam took up law classes under Governor Moreno at XU.
Tamtam was described by those who know him as a person who is "fun to be with, informative, expressive, conversant, honest, loves music, family oriented and God-fearing."
Mendez said, "Now that his (Tamtam's) body is found, we are asking everybody to help us by gathering all the details and reporting to us any information that might lead us to the culprits. We have to work fast."
Tamtam was the only boy among the three siblings of the Edpan couple.
He was an active member of the Scintilla Legis Fraternity at XU-Law, which produced some 140 lawyers in Cagayan de Oro City and in other areas where they have their chapters.
Tamtam is also a member of the elite Vocis Atenae. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (March 26, 2007 issue)
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