Manila, June 10 -- A suspect in the murder of a police officer in a mall parking lot here last December was arrested Monday afternoon by the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) and the local police.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, regional director of the Police Regional Office- Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), identified the suspect as 33-year-old Abdulpata Maguid Pantacan.

Pantacan is a former police officer previously assigned to the Basilan police provincial office and a resident of Parang, Maguindanao del Norte.

"He was the primary suspect in the Dec. 1, 2024, murder of Police Senior Master Sergeant (PSMS) John Manuel Bongcawil at the carpark of CityMall of Cotabato," Macapaz said in a radi...