ZAMBOANGA CITY — A case for murder has been filed against a policeman tagged as the alleged triggerman in the killing of a Tawi-Tawi town official on July 11 in this city.
Senior Insp. Shellamie Chang, Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), on Monday identified the gunman as PO2 Mohammad Lacbao Tulete, who is assigned in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Chang said Tulete was positively identified by witnesses who were with the slain Vice Mayor Al-Rashid Mohammad Alih, 53, of Sapa-Sapa town in Tawi-Tawi at the time of the incident.
Alih was on a sports utility vehicle together with his wife, daughter and a police escort when shot and wounded as they stopped near the intersection of Veterans and Gov. Alvarez Avenues in Barangay Camino Nuevo.
Alih and his companions came from a shopping mall, where the official met with some friends, police said.
Alih, who sustained two gunshot wounds, died several minutes later while under treatment at a hospital in this city.
Chang said they already forwarded the murder case against Tulete on July 27 before the City Prosecutor’s Office, who in turn filed the case in court, and a warrant of arrest has been issued against the suspect.
However, she said they have yet to ascertain whether Tulete is still active in service or has gone Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL).
She said the motive of the incident was political since the town official had no known enemies except in politics.
She said manhunt will continue to arrest the suspect although she conceded that “we have problems in (establishing) his whereabouts.”(Teofilo Garcia, Jr/PNA)
