COTABATO CITY (October 5, 2025, Sunday) — The mayor of this city has offered a P500,000 bounty for the gunmen behind the fatal ambush of a Sangguniang Kabataan chairman and his brother in a busy commercial hub here at noon Saturday, October 5.
Mayor Bruce Matabalao, chairman of the multi-sector Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, confirmed on Sunday, October 5, that he has allocated P500,000 cash in exchange for information leading to the arrest of the gunmen behind the ambush that resulted in the death of Mohaz Salvador Matanog, SK chairman in Barangay Poblacion 5, and his brother Muamar.
Matanog, an engineering student in the Cotabato City State University, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in the attack. His brother, who was badly wounded in the incident, died several hours later at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in the uptown area in Cotabato City.
The Matanog siblings were together in a red Toyota Raize, on their way somewhere, when they were attacked by gunmen at the intersection of Jose Lim, Sr. Street and Sinsuat Avenue, not too distant from the Cotabato City Police Precinct 1.
Their assailants had also shot and wounded an on-duty policeman who responded to the incident, Patrolman Norsaiden Laguiali, before they escaped using getaway motorcycles.
Matabalao and Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, had separately condemned the incident, which triggered panic as gunshots reverberated through the area where the Matanogs were ambushed, surrounded by commercial establishments and banks.
De Guzman had told reporters that Col. Jibin Bongcayao, director of the Cotabato City Police Office, is personally overseeing the investigation on the atrocity, being initiated with the help of the office of Mr. Matabalao and his constituent barangay leaders.
Photo shows police forensic experts sifting through the scene of Saturday’s deadly gun attack in Cotabato City.