DILG regional head wounded by burglar

COTABATO CITY — A burglar shot and seriously wounded the Central Mindanao director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) inside his house here before dawn last Friday, police said.

Inspector Roger Legaspi, chief of Precinct II of the city police, said DILG regional director Buagas Sulaik was shot in the abdomen and was rushed to a hospital in Davao City.

Legaspi said Sulaik’s attacker carted away a cellular phone and other valuables.

City Mayor Muslimin Sema has directed all of the city’s 37 barangay chairmen to help the police identify the DILG official’s attacker.

Sema said he is ready to shell out "earnest money" in exchange for any information that would lead to the burglar’s arrest.

Last February, burglars also broke into the residence here of Clarita Callar, Region 12 director of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Callar told investigators the burglars carted away some P500,000 worth of valuables, including old jewelry, and more than P200,000 in operating cash advanced by the Comelec central office in Manila. — John Unson