COTABATO CITY – Lawmen responding to a tip shot to death a long-wanted rape suspect after he resisted arrest in Parang, Maguindanao, on Monday, police said.
Supt. Ibrahim Jambiram, Parang police chief, said rape suspect Pollack Maximo Alcantara was shot dead by police after he opted to shoot it out with the arresting team.
Alcantara, a former drug surrenderee, was part of a five-man gang that harasses and rapes women in the hinterland areas of the municipality, Supt. Jambilan said.
“Alcantara and his cohorts are serial rapists and have long been pursued by our police force, and it was only on Monday that we chanced upon him through a tip,” the police official said.
After several months of hiding, Jambilan said Alcantara and a cohort suddenly showed up in mountainous Sitio Makiga, Barangay Manion, and harassed once more a former rape victim that prompted the latter to call for help at the barangay center.
“We immediately responded and caught up with Alcantara who fought it out with the arresting team,” Jambilan said, adding that the other suspect managed to elude arrest.
Declining to identify the four other suspects, who remain at large, Jambilan said the group is linked to five rape cases in the past, the latest of which occurred last March 8.
“Alcantara was positively identified by a victim on the Dec. 23 rape incident last year,” he said. Jambilan said they are hot on the trail of the four other suspects who are believed hiding in other remote villages of the municipality. (PNA)
