October 20, 2024 | 3:57 PM
Trigger warning: Graphic violence
COTABATO CITY — On Saturday afternoon, October 19, gunmen on motorcycles killed a Moro couple who were moneylenders in Barangay Pagagawan, Montawal, Maguindanao del Sur.
In the first report released on Sunday morning, Brig.-Gen. General Romeo Jaime Macapas, director of the police regional office, said Soliben Saracob and his wife, Sempac Abbas Saracob, both died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.
The victims' moneylending activities extended to the towns of Montahual and Pagalungan in Maguindanao del Sur, as well as the neighboring areas of Kabacan City, Mataram City, Areosan City, and Midsayap City in Cotabato Province, including the capital Kidapawan City.
Local officials and police investigators told reporters on Sunday that the couple was on their way to Kidapawan City on their motorbikes when two gunmen on motorbikes spotted them along the Cotabato-Davao Expressway in Barangay Pagagawan, Montawal Province. He said he was attacked.
The two men first forced the victims at gunpoint to hand over bags containing cash, and when they refused, fired repeatedly with pistols.
Relatives of the Saracobs told reporters that the couple may have deliberately targeted them because of large unpaid cash loans.
“They were having problems collecting money from customers who had made large loans,” Sarakob's cousin said on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses reported that the two gunmen first yelled abuse at the Saracobs in Maguindanaon before gunshots were heard at the scene.
The attackers took Saracobus' bag and took items from his pockets before fleeing on a motorbike.
