CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao — Police arrested seven men who claimed to be “generals” of an “international” military organization as they tried to enter Marawi City on Wednesday.
Chief Superintendent Reuben Teodore Sindac, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Ariel Bejaan, 45 of Cagayan de Oro City; Pacito Villanueva, 45 of Bukidnon; Junifer Adlawan Alestre, 52 of Valencia, Bukidnon; Bienvenido Sepe, 62 of Kabacan, North Cotabato; Florante Alejandrino, 38 of Cagayan de Oro City; Rufina Guyatao, 53 of Valencia, Bukidnon; and Elsie Lantong, 48, of Sumilao, Bukidnon, all sported military-style uniforms and presented various identification cards, including those purportedly of the Moro National Liberation Front.
But they were not armed.
Sindac said they were on board a white Toyota Fortuner driven by Leo Eliseo, 52, of Bukidnon when flagged down by personnel of the Lanao del Sur police’s Provincial Public Safety Battalion.
“They claimed they were on (their way to) a scheduled meeting in Marawi City with a member of the United Nations named Captain James Gothrie,” Sindac said in a statement.
They were charged for unauthorized use of military and police uniforms, Sindac said.
