COTABATO CITY — A driver of a freezer-type van loaded with ice cream in containers of various sizes was killed while his two helpers were wounded in an attack by robbers in Barangay Timbangan in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur on Monday afternoon.
Rey F. Balmores, died on the spot when men riding motorcycles shot him repeatedly while he was driving their delivery van at a secluded stretch of a highway in Barangay Timbangan.
His killers immediately alighted from their motorcycles as the vehicle stopped and, at gunpoint, took a bag containing a still undetermined amount of cash collections from his two companions, Harris L. Ampatuan and Reymond O. Bajas, who were both wounded in the attack.
Brig. Gen. Romeo J. Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Tuesday that the victims had just delivered their merchandise in towns around Shariff Aguak and were headed to their office in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte when the gunmen pulled off the daring heist.
Shariff Aguak Mayor Akmad A. Ampatuan condemned the atrocity and offered an earnest cash incentive for any information leading to the arrest of the robbers.
The mayor told reporters that he had instructed all barangay officials in Timbangan to help police investigators identify the culprits, now subject of an extensive hunt by personnel of the Shariff Aguak Municipal Police Station and the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office. — John Felix M. Unson
