Cotabato City folk alarmed over killings

COTABATO CITY — City residents are worried over a sudden rise in summary executions of suspected criminals.

Since Sunday, four people, two of them women, were found dead in different places in the city, their bodies riddled with bullets.

One of those slain was identified as Tato Abdullah, of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, who was repeatedly shot by a lone attacker along a busy street here the other day.

Abdullah, according to intelligence sources, was a suspected gunrunner dealing with notorious kidnapping syndicates operating in the city.

Lawmen fished out early this week from a tributary here of the Rio Grande de Mindanao the bodies of lovers Jerry Adtuyon and Michelle Torre, who both had bullet wounds in their heads.

The couple allegedly acted as couriers of a drug lord based in North Cotabato.

Just a day after the killings of Adtuyon and Torre, a cer-tain Joselyn Cago, an alleged illegal recruiter based in nearby Midsayap town, was found dead in a residential area here.

Witnesses said Cago’s body was dumped in the area by two men aboard a jeep.

Senior Superintendent Amerodin Hamdag, city police director, said they are doing their best to determine the people responsible for the spate of killings.

"Residents in the city should not worry because we are doing our job seriously," he said.

Hamdag said he has fielded more plainclothes agents in strategic areas to prevent more killings.

Hamdag downplayed insinuations that a vigilante group could be behind the killings.

"The city police will not allow any vigilante group to exist here," he said. — John Unson