A FEMALE police officer romantically linked to an Abu Sayyaf member was arrested Saturday night at a checkpoint in Barangay Bacani, Clarin town, a few kilometers away from a gunfight in which four bandits were killed.
Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa identified the PNP official as Supt. Maria Cristina Nobleza, deputy chief of the PNP’s Crime Laboratory in Region-11.
Dela Rosa said Nobleza was arrested with an ASG bandit who is said to be her driver and lover along with a 60-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy, the son of Ahmed Santos, founder of the Rajah Solaiman Movement, which has links to the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
Santos is detained at Camp Bicutan, Taguig City. The 13-year-old boy was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Dela Rosa identified Nobleza’s lover as Reener Lou Dungon, alias Kudre. He and Nobleza were held at a police detention center in Tagbilaran, Bohol and appropriate charges were filed against them.
“She is romantically involved… with the ASG member and we will file criminal and administrative cases against Nobleza. For sure she will be kicked out of the police service,” Dela Rosa said. “She was sleeping with the enemy.”
Investigators said they did not know what Nobleza was doing in Bohol since she was assigned to Davao, but Dela Rosa said it appeared they were trying to rescue the Abu Sayyaf members who escaped the firefight Saturday.
Investigators said Nobleza was on board a black Nissan Navarra driven by her ASG lover, who ran through a checkpoint in Bacani village. Police manning a second checkpoint flagged the black pickup truck and the occupants were told to get off and identify themselves.
When grilled by policemen, Nobleza introduced herself as a police officer and and said she was on a tour. A pistol of still unknown caliber, ammunitions, a cellphone and bottles of energy drinks were taken from the vehicle.
Dela Rosa considered Nobleza and her boyfriend high-risk detainees and said it was imperative they be transferred to Camp Crame.
In the Palace, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella condemned the Abu Sayyaf’s beheading of Staff Sgt. Anni Siraji, a soldier assigned with the Army’s 32nd Infantry Battalion.
Siraji’s body and head were found separately in Sitio Kan Suil in Taglibi village, Patikul, Sulu, Sunday afternoon.
“While Staff Sergeant Siraji was a soldier, he was an MNLF member who decided to trade his rifle as a fighter to become a peacemaker and agent of development to his fellow Tausugs,” Abella said.
“This barbaric act committed by ASG to a fellow Tausug has no place in a civilized society. This is our assurance to the family of Staff Sergeant Siraji: that we will not stop until justice is served. Let us work against common criminals to have safer and more secure communities,” he added.
Abella urged the public to be vigilant and alert, amid threats from the bandit group that recently attacked civilian communities in Bohol. With Nash B. Maulana and John Paolo Bencito