Nobleza-Dongon couple married in Muslim rites

Nobleza

Supt. Maria Cristina Nobleza and suspected Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) member Renierlo Lou Dongon are not just lovers but are actually husband and wife.

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said the two personalities, who were arrested for trying to evade a police checkpoint in Clarin town, Bohol on Saturday, were married under Muslim rites years ago.

“Dongon himself admitted that they are married. Supt. Nobleza converted to Islam so they could tie the knot,” the region’s top police official said in an interview when he returned to Cebu City from Bohol on Wednesday.

Nobleza was originally married to Supt. Allan Nobleza, a police attaché to Pakistan. Their marriage was annulled by the court in 2010.

Nobleza, together with an elderly woman named Judith and a 13-year-old boy, were on board a black Nissan Navara pickup driven by Dongon when they were taken into police custody after they refused to stop at a checkpoint in Clarin, where a firefight erupted between the remnants of the Abu Sayyaf group in Inabanga town and government troops resulting in the death of four more of the Abu Sayyaf.

Found inside Nobleza’s vehicle were bottles of energy drink, canned goods, diving gear, goggles, biscuits, boxes of chocolates, male underwear, T-shirts, shorts for men and medical kits.

Taliño said Nobleza, who is deputy chief of the PNP Crime Laboratory in Davao City, admitted that they intended to deliver medicines to the remaining ASG members who are trapped in Clarin, Bohol.

However, the policewoman denied insinuations that they were trying to rescue the bandits.

“Accordingly, their plan was allegedly just to throw the medicines,” Taliño said.

Nobleza was charged before the Bohol Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for illegal possession of firearms, resistance and disobedience to agents of a person in authority, and harboring a criminal.

Dongon

Dongon and Judith, on the other hand, were charged with resistance and disobedience to agents of a person in authority.

On the orders of Philippine National Police (PNP) director Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Nobleza and Dongon were detained in Camp Crame while the charges against them are being resolved by the prosecutor.

The elderly woman remains in the custody of the Bohol Provincial Police Office while the minor was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

In a 2013 news report, Brig. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, then commander of the army’s 4th Infantry Division, said Dongon reportedly served as leader of Khilafah Islamiya and was arrested along with an associate by police intelligence operatives in Marawi City on May 11, 2013.

The operation led to the confiscation of 29 blasting caps and other materials for manufacturing bombs. Dongon, however, was subsequently released because the name on the search warrant was that of his younger brother.

Dongon was also allegedly responsible for the bombing of Maxandrea Hotel in Cagayan de Oro City in 2012 that resulted in the death of two individuals. The case against Dongon was dismissed by the prosecutor due to a technicality.

Taliño said they will file additional charges against Nobleza and Dongon for possession of explosives, a non-bailable offense.

On Monday evening, the police recovered components for an improvised explosive device from the apartment rented by the couple in Barangay Looc on Panglao Island, Bohol.

Among those recovered by the police were a C-4 plastic explosive, a detonating cord, a blasting cap and a blasting cap kit.