COTABATO CITY – As if taunting local authorities, unidentified gunmen set on fire the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in nearby Datu Odin, Shariff Kabunsuan and fired their assault rifles overhead as they fled to trigger a commotion and hasten their escape.
Shariff Kabunsuan’s provincial police director, Senior Superintendent Esmael Ali, said the suspects arrived at the office of DAR at the town proper of Datu Odin, disarmed two watchmen guarding the building and set it on fire using kerosene.
The two security guards told investigators the suspects first searched for some documents in filing racks at different rooms inside the DAR office before they sprinkled kerosene inside the building and lit it with matches.
Ali said investigators are yet to determine the identities of the arsonists and the real motive for the attack. – John Unson