Soldiers, cops tighten security in Cotabato City bridge project

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Authorities on Monday tightened security in the surroundings of a multi-million bridge project southeast of the city which gunmen tried to sabotage over the weekend.

Investigators said heavily armed men aboard three motorized watercrafts docked at one side of the river near the bridge and immediately fired a round from a 40-millimeter, shoulder-fired grenade launcher on the structure to scare barangay tanods positioned on its concrete deck.

The village watchmen, led by Rasul Usman and Ramil Pangilan, returned fire from a higher, more vantage position, preventing the suspects, armed with M-14 and M-16 assault rifles, from closing in.

The suspects eventually balked from approaching the bridge connecting the banks of a river in Barangay Tamontaka, a swampy area home to ethnic Maguindanaon residents relying mainly on fishing and rice farming as main sources of income.

Combatants of the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion and the local police have been patrolling the surroundings of the bridge since Monday to prevent a repeat of the incident.

The city police appealed to local folks to help barangay officials monitor the surroundings of the project site.