Habal-habal driver got less than P1M?

How much did the habal-habal driver receive as reward for the information that led authorities to the seven Abu Sayyaf bandits who hid, four of whom were later killed, in Clarin town?

This question became a topic of discussion on social media yesterday after reports began circulating online that the habal-habal driver only received P450,000 from the government, not the expected P1.1-million reward — the P1 million promised by President Rodrigo Duterte and another P100,00 from a private donor.

Clarin Mayor Allen Ray Piezas said he had no idea about the matter.

“I saw that a reward was given, but I am not privy to the amount,” said Piezas, who was among the witnesses during the handing of the reward money to the informants, including the habal-habal driver.

Capt. Jojo Mascariñas, spokesperson of the 302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in Bohol who led the hunt for the bandits in the province, declined to give any statement, saying he was not privy to the details of the cash reward.

President Duterte, in a visit to Bohol after the government’s successful April 11 siege in Inabanga that resulted in the death of four Abu Sayyaf members and the manhunt from the seven to eight bandits who escaped the Inabanga siege, offered a P1-million bounty for each Abu Sayyaf member arrested or killed.

Last week, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) handed the cash reward from Mr. Duterte to the habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) driver and other informants who provided the vital information that led to the death of four bandits in Clarin town on April 22.

The AFP, however, declined to say how much was given out and how many received the cash money, saying it was “classified information.”

The habal-habal driver and other informants were not presented to the media for security reasons.