P2.2M reward for tipsters of ASG bandits’ location

Rewards of over P2 million will be given to those responsible for tipping government authorities regarding the whereabouts of the last two remaining members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Bohol.

A reward recommendation for the tipster or tipsters was forwarded to the Office of the President by the Armed Forces of the Philippines yesterday — three days after government troopers killed Abu Ubayda and Abu Asis in a pursuit operation on Pangangan Island, Calape town.

Sources refused to disclose the names of those responsible for tipping authorities and also the number of people responsible for leading the military and police to the bandits’ whereabouts.

Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto, however, said that 302nd Infantry Brigade commander Brigadier Gen. Arnulfo Matanguihan already sent his report to President Rodrigo Duterte.

“In that same report, it is indicated there the recommendation for the reward money,” Chatto said.

The governor was told that P1 million each will be given by the President for the deaths of Asis and Ubayda respectively.

Aside from the P2 million from Malacañang, Chatto said that the Bohol provincial government will also give a P200,000 reward.

“The province will also follow the same recommendation of the military. Ig-abot sa funds gikan sa Presidente, like what we did in the previous rewards, then ang probinsiya mohatag na pud,” Chatto said.

(Once the funds from the President arrive, the province will also give our own reward.)

Following a government clash with 11 ASG bandits last April in Inabanga town which killed four ASG members, President Duterte promised a P1-million reward for the capture of each of the Abu Sayyaf stragglers in Bohol.

After the last two remaining bandits were killed on Monday, the troops of the 302nd Infantry Brigade and 47th Infantry Division were pulled out of Bohol, a source privy to the government operation said.

But other military and police units have remained to secure the province.