2 suspects in Red Cross volunteer's slay nabbed

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Police arrested yesterday two suspects in the killing of a known Red Cross volunteer in a bungled holdup at a supermarket here last Sunday.

The victim, Bai Aleta Sinsuat, 60, who belonged to a Moro royal clan in the first district of Maguindanao, served the Red Cross for nearly 40 years.

Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, city police chief, said they first arrested Michael “Patok” Usi after three days of surveillance in Barangay Patadon, Kidapawan City, more than a hundred kilometers north of this city.

The suspected triggerman, Nando Mokammad, was arrested late Tuesday in Barangay New Isabela, Tacurong City.

Dangane said Mokammad confessed to the killing of Sinsuat over the Qur’an and in the presence of his relatives.

He said they were able to track down Mokammad through a mobile phone left by his cohorts in their hideout in a slum area here.

“We discovered his mobile phone number and duped him into revealing his location in Tacurong City through calls made by his relatives who we requested to help locate him,” he said.

Dangane said Usi and Mokammad are now undergoing interrogation to determine the identities of their accomplices.

Sinsuat was a younger sibling of Bai Fatima, a multi-awarded Red Cross volunteer, and Datu Michael, mayor of North Upi, Maguindanao, from 1992 to 2001.

Sinsuat was about to enter a store at a supermarket here when Usi allegedly tried to grab her bag. Sinsuat resisted, prompting Mokammad to shoot her in the back with a caliber .45 pistol. The bullet pierced her heart and exited in her chest.

Dangane said they are still tracking down Junabi Kalim, who the two suspects tagged as one of their lookouts.

“Our investigators are confident they can gradually (get) from Usi and Mokammad vital information on how big their group is and who could be giving them protection,” he said. – With Dennis Carcamo and Cecille Suerte Felipe