Another Pentagon man falls

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Anti-kidnapping Army operatives arrested another henchman of Pentagon kidnap gang leader Tahir Alonto, the seventh to fall in three months.

Brig. Gen. Agustin Dema-ala, commander of the Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade, said the suspect, Gabby Mamalimping, gave up without a fight after men of the 66th Infantry Battalion, backed by militiamen and local officials, had surrounded his hideout near the town proper of S.K. Pendatun town in Maguindanao.

Dema-ala said Mamalimping, who belongs to the Pentagon’s so-called "inner circle," had long been wanted for a string of kidnappings and drug trafficking.

"He is one of the trusted aides of Alonto. We had long been running after him," he said.

Mamalimping yielded two M-16 assault rifles, two fragmentation grenades and schematic sketches of the houses of businessmen in Tacurong City and surrounding towns.

Dema-ala said he is convinced that Mamalimping was involved in the abduction last October of three bodyguards of a wealthy Filipino-American trader in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat and last month’s foiled abduction of a hardware store owner in Esperanza, also in Sultan Kudarat.

Dema-ala said they are optimistic that Mamalimping would help them locate Alonto, who has a P5-million prize on his head.

Alonto, who hails from Pagalungan, Maguindanao, has been tagged as the mastermind of the abduction of at least 30 wealthy residents of Central Mindanao since two years ago.

Alonto’s "right hand-man," Dario Quiam, was arrested last October in General Santos City.